Book one:  Choose your fate
by KuroiTori-sama
Summary: NO YAOI. He has won the battle for their soul. Where his heart once was, a hole remains. But, can an inner hollow survive the world that he was never meant to be part of? Being born with no regret to burden him, what side will he chose? Ichigo/Rukia
1. Chapter 1: The beginnings

_**Disclaimer: I am not Tite Kubo so I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

_Summary: NO YAOI. He has won the battle for their soul. Where his heart one was, a hole remains. But, can an inner hollow survive the world that he was never meant to be part of? Being born with no regret to burden him, what side will he chose? Will he find the one thing he wanted more than anything – his freedom?_

Starts some 24 hours before Ulquiorra and Yammy arrive in the real world. It's a Ichigo/Shiro fanfic where Shiro wins their fight but things don't go as planned. Now he has to adapt to living among humans (but not eat them), learn from the vaizards while keeping his true identity secret... And on top of it – has to get ready for war he wasn't sure he wanted to be a part of.

Note, spoilers - I will use all the available bleach data to make this work. Although I won't make the story strictly follow the canon version I will indirectly use all the stuff shown/explained all the way up to the latest chapters (I'll also use the upcoming ones as well, to the best of my abilities).

Shiro's theme song (for the first book, might explain some things): Linkin Park - Forget (the 2010 single)

Couples: So far Ichigo/Rukia. (Authors note: Shiro may or may not stay solo, I won't give away much)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world (anywhere other than Ichigo's inner world) and Ichigo talking inside the his inner world

'_Hollow'_ – Ichigo thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Ichigo's inner hollow talking to Ichigo while Ichigo is in the outside world. Ichigo's inner hollow thinking in the inner world. Zanpakutou talking to the shinigami while the shinigami is in the outside world. Zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –** Ichigo's inner hollow talking inside the inner world. Zanpakutou talking.

(Hope this wasn't too confusing, now let the story begin)

_Murphy's Law_: "_The perversity of the universe tends to a maximum."_

_A forgotten dream_

**-Book one: Chose your fate-**

O-O-O

Chapter one- The beginnings

O-O-O

It was just another sleepless night, it seemed. There was nothing he could do about it. Really, with all the stress he's been having lately it's a miracle that he was still sane! Thinking about his life, Ichigo noticed a disturbing pattern emerging. It's like - just when he thought it was all over, and that things would go back to being the way they used to, _it happened again_! Four days! That's how long it took for things to get out of control. Just four damn days! Then he was off chasing the Bauntos all over Karakura! And then to top it all off he was forced (by that stupid Ishida, off all people) to return to Soul Society to stop the Bounto in their scheme of destroying it. He succeeded in the end, yes but… Well, how to put it?

'_Does the universe hate me or something?'_ he mused. He knew he won, yes but… the battles left him with a chilling afterthought. It seemed that that inner hollow of his was here to stay for good this time. So far, it hasn't succeeded in taking over, but after his fight with that Koga person, it became clear that _it_ wouldn't fade away like last time. Thinking about it, Ichigo remembered how easy it was to suppress the monster back then.

'_Those were the days… Back then, all I had to do was to build a barrier in my mind and fill it with highly condensed reiryoku, and the hollow would be cut off… But this time'_

'_**Those days are long over, Ichigo!'**_

Ichigo shoot up, eyes wide at his surprise.

'_Shit! Shit! Shit!' _he coursed, mentally. Weren't the new barriers he put up enough? "Damn it."

'_**Now, now. No cursing. You knew this would happen eventually, haven't ya, Ichigo!' **_

'_Shut up!'_

'_**Make me, ya prick! Come on! I dare ya to step in here!' **_After waiting for a response for over a minute, the hollow simply added his trademark 'Che' and left. It was quiet again.

'_For the moment, at least' _he reminded himself while raising new barriers in his mind. This time he would leave nothing to chance. He grabbed his reiryoku reserves and started to condense the particles inside his mind. Considering how the old one kept the hollow at bay for over an hour and a half, Ichigo doubled the amount of reiryoku. Hopefully, three hours of sleep would suffice. The fact that tomorrow was school day didn't help much. In fact, it made it worse. He remembered what that Hirako person told him.

_(Flashback)_

"The reason you came to this school was to recruit me in to your group, right? If that's the case you have no reason to be here!" Ichigo said with a raised tone of voice.

Hirako just gave him an empty glare.

"Why is that?" he replied to the now slightly shocked orange-haired kid. "You didn't think we've given up just because of what happened yesterday, do ya? I don't give up so easily. I'm gonna follow you around 'til I get a yes. Besides, it is too late. Vaizards cannot become normal again once the symptoms appear. No matter what you think, you're on our side now." He paused and then continued with a chilling voice.

"Orihime-chan, too. The big one, too. And the glasses. You believe them all to be friends, don't you? Well, you're wrong. They're only friends for the time being." He looked up to the boy's face again. "If you keep being shinigami, at some point you will lose your sanity and be swallowed by the hollow inside. And when that happens, it's all over. Your power will destroy everything. Your friends, as well as your future, will all be swallowed and be smashed to pieces! Don't tell me you haven't already noticed? The fact that the hollow inside you… is so powerful you can't control it." Hirako's smile continued to grow as he watched Ichigo's eyes widen with horror. "Come with me, Ichigo. I will show you how to maintain your sanity."

_(End flashback)_

'_There. It's done'_ he sighed. Feeling slightly better (but not by much) Ichigo lied back down again. He would at least put those three hours to a good use. He'll worry about Hirako tomorrow. That is… If he wakes up tomorrow. He felt his heart sinking. No! He will wake up tomorrow! His hollow will _not_ win so easily, he just knew it! He will…

Without finishing his train of thoughts, Ichigo felt his eyes sealing shut, as the darkness claimed him, carrying him away, into the dreams.

O-O-O

_(Meanwhile, inside Ichigo's inner world…)_

"**Oi! Zangetsu-san! Oi! Come on, I know you can hear me! Come on, ya better not be ignoring me old man! Oi!"**

"**There is no reason for you to shout. I hear you just fine." **The old man garbed in black robes answered.

'_**Ah, so you WERE ignoring me…'**_the white version of Ichigo mused. He looked up, only to see that the old man was facing away from him.

"**Oi! Look at me when we're speaking, damn it! Oi!" **The old man only slightly looked over his shoulder, as if only to glance at an annoyance. The hollow felt his eye twitch and his hand slowly drifting towards the hilt of his zanpakutou.

**"You would use that which I gave you against me?"** saying that, the old man looked away again with a small sarcastic smile on his face.

The hollow somehow knew that this wasn't just an idle question.

_**'Good thing I'm not as dumb as that moron Ichigo' **_the hollow thought._** 'That imbecile would have tried to use the power that Zangetsu gave us to fight his own zanpakutou, and end up cut to ribbons. Not me though. Not a chance in hell I'd fall for such a trick!' **_he added. He knew that if a fight broke out, Zangetsu would immediately cut him off from the powers inside the zanpakutou. **'**_**But then again…' **_unlike that moron-in-control Ichigo, he himself had no need to rely solely on the blade resting on his back. As a huge grin appeared on his face, he remembered.

He had… other tricks up his sleeves.

"**Oi… Zangetsu~san. What do you say we spar with one another, eh? Just for old time's sake? What do you say? You, me, two blades, lots of shunpo under the black sky…"** he paused to take a good look at the sky. "**Hey, hmm, Zangetsu-san?"** his voice now seemed to have lost all signs of hostility, "**Hey, Zangetsu san, can I ask you a question? What's up with the sky?"**

**"Are you honestly trying to say you haven't noticed yet? It's been like this ever since youstarted attacking Ichigo's barriers."** The old man paused for a moment, raising his gaze towards the dark skies above, and then with a sigh continued. **"I hate the rain. The rain falls in this world, too. When Ichigo's heart is in chaos the sky becomes clouded, and when he is sad the rain falls so terribly easily. Can you understand it, hollow, the horror of being pelted by the rain in this solitary world? If only to stop the rain… I will fight with all my strength."**

"**You sure like to talk, eh? But don't worry, I get it. Basically, if the idiot is depressed it gets a bit wet, right? I don't see what's the big problem. I mean it's just-" **He felt the wind picking up speed. It went from just a breeze to a wind of a thunderstorm. The lightnings that were now tearing across the sky confirmed it.

**"It is already morning in the outside world. The sun is slowly rising in the east." **Zangetsu sighed. **"If only I were outside…"** Disturbing as it might seem to the hollow, it looked like the old man himself was barely holding back the tears.

"**Oh for crying out loud…" **was the only thing the hollow could mutter. It was then when he made the stupidest decision in his life (so far). In an attempt to calm down the old man he reached for Ichigo… And smashed through the eroded barrier.

In an instant the winds now picked up to hurricane speeds, and the rain came falling down.

"**Cut it out ya fucking retard! We don't want to drown in here! CUT IT OUT ICHIGO!" **if anything, the both the winds and the rain intensified. '_**Oh, for god's sake, you've got to be kidding me!' **_The storm was now reaching what could only be described as biblical proportions. The hollow turned to the now crouching old man, while trying to look at least a bit apologetic – he could understand the zanpakutou's hatred of the rain now, he guessed that not all of the water flowing down the old man's face was rainwater. The black garbed man's eyes were red.

"**Maybe we'll spar next time then, Zangetsu-san" **and with that the hollow walked away, with dark thoughts swirling in his head. Wrapping his arms around himself, he tried to lower his head down in a vain attempt to keep dry. Who was he kidding - he was soaked to the skin.

"**God, how I hate the rain…" **His voice echoed slightly, only to fade away, carried by the howling wind.

O-O-O

"Welcome back, IIICHIGOOO!" a happy hyperactive forty-year-old man shouted, charging towards the unsuspecting orange haired boy.

What happened during the next few seconds left everyone present in shock – Ichigo took an elbow to the face and simply collapsed.

_'He didn't even punch me in return'_ Isshin mused. Even worse – the boy completely failed to notice him up until the last minute, let alone try and dodge. This more than anything made Isshin worried. What in the world happened to his son? He took a deep breath. They needed to get through this.

Yuzu ran up to her brother. "Are you okay, oonii-chan?"

He barely heard her, his head was ringing so hard. He thought he heard his father talking about some tests or grades, and Karin commenting Isshin's parenting skills, but for the love of it, he couldn't focus on their words.

'_Did I get a concussion?' _he wondered.

_**'Nope! Come on, Ichigo… Come inside and play. '**__Oh, no, not again! Why won't you stay down!' _Ichigo screamed mentally at his inner hollow.

**'Stay down**_**, you say? Now why would I do that, eh? You're such a moron, Ichigo!' **_

Ichigo could now clearly see the hollow's face, as if standing next to him. **'**_**I do wonder, though…'**_ the hollow continued, his maniacal grin growing ever larger, but he said nothing else, simply staring in the direction Ichigo assumed were his sisters.

Seconds later, Ichigo realized that he can see and hear just fine, and that his family was looking at him with worried looks on their faces. He stood up and walked to his father.

"Sorry, I'm going to stay in my room until dinner time". Walking past his father, with his schoolbag in hand, Ichigo went up the stairs without saying a word.

For a moment, Isshin paused – he wasn't fooled. The depressed aura that had surrounded the boy only grew ticker by every passing second. Isshin looked at his son and, realizing that there wasn't anything he could do, decided to leave. '_Hope you get better, Ichigo…'_

Entering his room, Ichigo walked to his bed. He didn't even notice the school bag slipping out of his hands. Before he knew it, he was on his bed, lying with his face buried in the pillow. He heard Kon blabbing something, and Ririn criticizing him, but couldn't bring himself to shut up either the perverted plushy or the pigeon. A few seconds later both Ririn and Kon left. He barely noticed though, as he was already deep it thought.

'_After I drove him out, the mask that would come back even if I threw it away suddenly disappeared without a trace. That's when it all started. Ever since that day, I could hear him, calling out to me. Honestly, I didn't even need Hirako to mention it. At this rate…' _

'"**At this rate" what?'**

"You again!"

_**'Don't you think you're a bit too scared, Ichigo? How interesting. I'm going to scare you even more! I'm going to draw closer and closer to you, until I devour you… And it won't be just day by day anymore.' **_He truly looked like a monstrous maniac now. '_**I'm gonna do it a lot faster now too. Soon, I will get so close that you will disappear… Forever. Until then… See ya!'**_ and with that he was gone leaving Ichigo frozen with fear.

'_At this rate… I'm done for…'_

O-O-O

_(Inside Ichigo's inner world…)_

"**God, how I hate this rain…" **Sure, it was fun to mess with Ichigo's head like that but, this insufferable rain…

"**No not just rain, IT'S A FUCKEN HURRICANE!" **The hollow almost envied Zangetsu, now that the scales of power have changed and the old man was a part of him.

'_**At least he got out of this never-ending rain' **_the hollow mused. For a moment, he considered calling him out, thinking like – why suffer alone, but decided against it. After all, it wasn't the old man's fault the 'king' was a weak-minded moron who wouldn't step down from the throne.

The winds picked up again. The hollow couldn't help but shout out in anger.

"**God, how I HATE this rain!" **

Still, it could be worse. At least he wasn't the soon-to-be-devoured Ichigo. By the way, it was time to tease him gain. After all, the hollow did say that he would speed things up – and it wouldn't be polite not to keep your word now would it? As the he raised his consciousness outside the inner world's boundaries, he felt shocked to see Ichigo fighting an opponent twice his size. The man appeared to have had his right arm sliced clean off, probably by Ichigo. And then he noticed it. The hole. The broken mask. _The zanpakutou_. There was no shred of doubt about it. That thing, it was a hollow. And not just any hollow, it had a broken mask. Behind the giant there was another, shorter in stature. A strange sensation passed through the pale version of Kurosaki. These two were the closest the white he had as a species.

But something definitely felt off. And then it became obvious.

_They, or at least the big one was trying to kill Ichigo!_ And that wasn't the only thing that made him worry. Despite the fact that Ichigo managed to slice off the big guy's arm, it seemed that the weird mask-less hollow wasn't even feeling the pain and instead reaching for his blade with the remaining arm. And worst of all… He looked again at the other one. With that menacing feeling emanating from him, the white hollow began to doubt… Chances were… _**'Oh, no… Don't tell me!'**_

He had to do something fast! If Ichigo were to fight them… If he were to… Than Ichigo would die!

'_**No!'**_ He couldn't let that happen – he would die too! But… The only thing he could think of was… '_**Oh, boy.'**_

"**Switch with me, Ichigo!" **he shouted. It was a bad idea, it was a bad idea, it was a bad…

O-O-O

'_**Switch with me, Ichigo!'**_

'_Damn, he's back! NOT now, of all places, damn it! GO AWAY!'_ He had to push his inner hollow down, now! If _he _were to interfere, the result would be… '_Get away from me!'_

'_**I can kick **_**both **_**their asses if you switch out with me!' **_the hollow shouted back at him. What was that? Ichigo couldn't figure it out, but for a second it seemed that the hollow was actually… No, no he wasn't. He couldn't possibly be…

'_Get. Away. From. ME!' _And with that he shoved his inner hollow back down into his inner world. '_I am your-' _Ichigo looked up only to see a giant foot now millimeters from his face!

Inoue immediately jumped toward him, ready to help him any way she could, even if it meant dying.

"Kurosaki-kun!" The girl screamed seeing the shinigami representative flying through the air. He heard her. Panicking as he struggled to get on back on his feat, he spun around to face her shouting, "Stay back, Inoue!" and then slamming face-first in to the ground, but to no avail. The girl ignored his warning only to be thrown back a second later, slapped hard by the giant hollow known as Yammy.

"INOUE!" he screamed desperately, only to have Yammy's giant fist slam in to his back as he tried to get up.

Once, twice, four, seven times the monstrous giant hollow slammed his fist in to Ichigo's head and body, smashing his bones along the way.

O-O-O

_(Inside of Ichigo's inner world…)_

Deep inside of the sideways world, the white hollow gathered his strength. That was it. No more mister nice hollow. With all of his might, he slammed against Ichigo's mental barriers. Due to all the distress happening in the outside world, bashing his way through wouldn't be that hard. There was only one problem. The hollow was instantly cut off from his shinigami powers.

"**Zangetsu-san? Why?"** The hollow demanded an answer.

"**It is not the time or place for such a course of action. You shall wait. Otherwise it will cause the end of both of you."** With that, the zanpakutou had begun to fade away. "**If you insist in doing this you will have your basic hollow powers only."**

And then he was gone, leaving the hollow in a dilemma. Even though it annoyed him to no end, he had to admit that Zangetsu usually knew what he was doing. Usually.

But, then again, on the other hand… When would he get such a chance again?

He had to risk it. He had to risk everything, even his own existence.

O-O-O

'_Damn it! My body won't move!'_ He could think of only one explanation – the damned hollow!

'_I rejected you and now you're getting in my way? DAMN IT!' _as his world begun to fade, the images of his two friends he failed to protect etched in to his mind. '_DAMN IT' _It was only in a split of a second that he noticed someone blocking Yammy's blow. '_Urahara… Yoruichi…'_ He could feel his mind going numb, his sight blurring.

…

The battle between Yammy and Urahara raged on, as Urahara continually taunted the giant. But Ichigo heard none of it. He saw… nothing, as he lay on the ground.

…

…

…

Through the static of his thoughts, he heard the voice of the smaller hollow… The one with green eyes.

"I've completed the mission assigned to me. I am going to report to Aizen-sama that the shinigami he had his sight set on is trash not even worth killing." The short, green-eyed hollow named Ulquiorra turned around, touching an invisible spot in the air.

A massive tear appeared in the air at the exact point where Ulquiorra had touched it. The two hollows, Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Riyalgo entered it, departing towards Hueco Mundo.

In the meantime, the battered and body broken orange-haired boy lay on the grass, coloring it read, as the darkness claimed him…

O-O-O

AUTHORS NOTES:

Pheeew! It's done! There you have it, the very first chapter of my fanfic trilogy: **A Forgotten Dream: Book one – Chose your fate.**

I'm trying to stay mostly in-character with everybody (so far at least), as the story goes on things will gradually change – it is inevitable. The one that will most likely change will be Ichigo's inner hollow - Willie MacDougal…

Just kidding about the name, hope you get the joke (of who Willie MacDougal is… XD). But I will have to mess with his head a bit, after all there isn't much known about his personality outside the battle field, other than the fact that he likes natural surroundings, like bright, sunny skies, green forests and animals (just like Zangetsu).

Please, let me know what you liked and what you didn't, so I can make it better for YOU!

_Reiryoku – Spiritual energy_

PS: Your reviews are very important. And the button is conveniently right below. Click it. Click it. Click it.

PPS: Zaraki knows where you live. So you better review.

Well then… See ya next time!

~KuroiTori-sama


	2. Chapter 2:  The panter's shadow

_**Disclaimer: I am not Tite Kubo and I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world (anywhere other than Ichigo's inner world) and Ichigo talking inside the his inner world

'_Hollow'_ – Ichigo thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Ichigo's inner hollow talking to Ichigo while Ichigo is in the outside world. Ichigo's inner hollow thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –** Ichigo's inner hollow talking inside the inner world.

"_**Hollow"**_**– **Zangetsu talking.

'_**Hollow'**_ – Zangetsu thinking.

Chapter two – The panther's shadow

It faded. And then returned. Slowly, he was regaining consciousness. Opening his eyes, Ichigo glanced over the room he was in. It was his own. He tried to move a bit only to feel sharp pain coursing through his body. What the hell happened to him? Lifting his head of the pillow, he saw that nearly half of his body was wrapped in bandages. Why did-…

And then it hit him – he lost.

It was that simple fact that made Ichigo wince, as images of both Inoue and Chad lying on the ground, bleeding and seeming more dead than alive flashed before his eyes. It was the one thing he feared the most, and it had happened – he failed to protect them. How could this have happened? One minute he was kicking but, and the next… The hollow interfered. He groaned in pain, not even knowing which pain he was referring to - the pain of his body, or the pain of failure.

'_If only I was stronger… If only I had more power.' _Another groan slipped off his lips._ 'I could_ _have-…'_

"Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" Ichigo felt the orange plushy leaping from his chest, screaming like crazy. "You're so unpleasant!" The crazy thing continued shouting, as if Ichigo was a whole mile away. Ichigo didn't mind though. He barely even noticed it. His thoughts were elsewhere.

'_At this rate… Damn it!'_

* * *

At the same moment, deep inside Ichigo's inner world…

"**Ouch. Ok, now that hurt." **The hollow grumbled… _**'I didn't even know I **_**could**_** get knocked out like that. '**_… and then gave a big sigh.

"**Stupid Ichigo…getting in my way. Next time… When I get my hands on hi-... OUCH!" **The hollow shouted in pain as the blunt side of a very heavy cleaver landed on his head.

"**What the hell! Why are ya hittin' ME, Zangetsu-san. I-…" **just as he spoke another blow landed on his head.** "OUCH! Damn it, nock it of old man!" **The white wearing hollow shouted in pain – his head was still sore from the bashing he and Ichigo took from that freak Yammy, and now he had to put up with this!

When he noticed that the third blow was missing out, the hollow looked up and saw Zangetsu leaning on the massive blade. The blade's tip was now embedded in the ground/building or whatever it was (the hollow didn't care), and the zanpakutou was looking at him with disgust.

"**Why did you not listen to the warning I gave you earlier?"**the zanpakutou asked. **"Draw your blade, now!"**

'_**What the-… Zangetsu-… Oh shit, not now.'**_

"**Well, isn't it obvious!" **The hollow asked in return and then proceeded to answer his own question.** "When the hell would I get an opportunity like that again, eh! Most likely, never!"**

"**Draw…" **the zanpakutou continued, as he raised his unsheathed blade.

"**Draw shit!" **the hollow shouted, but then lowered the tone of his voice.** "I'm tired of this game, Zangetsu-san. I let you come out since I thought you had something smart to say. Be gone!" **And with those words, the spirits of hollow and zanpakutou clashed, fighting for dominance inside the sideways world, yet again.

'_**Choose your next step well, hollow. Choose it well…'**_

* * *

The next day…

It took him some time to get ready, with all the pain coursing through his body. Still, he was the lucky one… At least he kept all of his limbs, and miraculously none of his bones though seriously cracked at some points, were broken anymore. Urahara patched him up quickly. The only problem was Ichigo's skull fracture. Even though Urahara managed to repair most of the bone structure, it turned out that the remains of the fracture would have to heal on their own – hence the large bandages wrapped around his forehead. As he begun to walk, he felt the tension on several stitches and bandages but decided to ignore them.

Stepping outside of his home, Ichigo raised his gaze towards the sky. He knew he felt something… a faint feeling… squirming, in that direction. A few seconds later, he heard a familiar shriek of a hollow. Judging by the size of it's reiatsu it was fairly young, most likely newly formed. Reaching towards his shinigami badge, he felt a jolt of pain surging through his entire body.

'_**You sure you wanna do that, King?'**_

Ichigo froze up. His hand hanged in mid air, halfway to his pocket.

'_What am I doing!'_ he shouted at himself. _'I have to stop that thing! Move, move, move, MOVE!'_ Every time he mentally screamed that word, his hand would drift closer to the badge.

'_**Yea, like you said – move… Become a shinigami!' **_the hollow teased. _**'Take a step closer…' **_With those words, the hollow sent a projection of himself waving his hands in an inviting manner.

'_Why don't you just leave me alone!'_ For once, the hollow seemed a bit… uncertain with his answer.

'_**Eh… Donno… It's kinda boring that way… Instinct maybe?' **_

Before Ichigo even had time to blink, let alone say a word, the hollow attacked. And not just attack like always – this time he hit Ichigo so hard that the orange-haired boy lost his balance, collapsing to his knees. He heard someone shouting his name.

"Ichigo… Ichigo!"

Shifting ever so slightly, he looked at the person who called out to him. It was none other than Mizuiro Kojima.

"Ichigo, are you alright? I saw you tripping over, holding your head like it was gonna pop." He looked at his friend carefully. And then he noticed the bandages. "Is it because of that injury? Who bashed in your scull this time? Was it-"

"No one did. I just fell on my head… Badly. And in the worst possible angle." Ichigo explained.

'_**Nice comeback… Care for an encore?' **_the hollow joked, than attacked again. Ichigo grabbed his head, desperately trying to push back the demon. Gathering as much reiryoku as he could, pushing inwardly, he rebuilt his barriers yet again.

"Ichigo, are you okay? I'm seriously starting to worry here." Mizuiro said. "Look, how about I help you get inside? How does that sound?"

Feeling relieved that the demon was no longer there, Ichigo shook his head trying to clear his thoughts.

"I'm fine Mizuiro. I'm going to school." Looking up towards the sky, Ichigo saw the small hollow floating in mid-air. A few seconds later, he was destroyed by a kidou spell. It seemed that at least Afro-san was doing his job.

"But you can't." Mizuiro argued. "You've nearly collapsed, twice!" He was seriously scared that the stubborn Ichigo would continue to push himself and most likely end up with an even more serious injury. "You need to go inside and re-…" There he was interrupted as he saw Ichigo's glare. "Then again, we could just go to school, right?"

"Yea." He looked at his friend. "Sorry 'bout that. I just had a bad day. That's all."

"Don't worry about it. Come on, Keigo was supposed to meet me five minutes ago."

As they continued walking, Ichigo kept an eye on his inner hollow, ready to fight again.

* * *

In school, twenty minutes later…

"EEEEEEEH!" The surprise was clearly evident on the orange haired boy.

"Mornin'! How ya been, Ichigo?"

"R-Renji! Ikkaku! Yumichika! Rangiku! Toushiro!" That last bit seemed to aggravate the short white haired boy.

"That's Hitsugaya-taicho to you!" Inwardly, Ichigo snickered at the kids antics. Indeed, teasing the tenth division's captain never got old and, at the very least helped raise his spirit up a bit.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Hitsugaya shrugged.

"Orders from above."

Seeing that Ichigo didn't understand, Renji explained it.

"We are to prepare for the upcoming battle with the arrancar… By entering the real world and joining forces with the shinigami substitute, or at least so we were told." Ichigo still couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Arranc-who?" Renji frowned at this.

"You got your butt handed to you and you don't even know who you were fighting? That's kinda pathetic."

'_**Just what I've been saying…'**_

'_You be quiet!' _Ichigo snapped at his hollow. In return, he was greeted by the sound of maniacal laughter.

"Idiot." He looked around to see who said that, only to find himself staring at the girl on the window. "It was the ones that tore you up the other day!"

"Rukia? What are you-"

In a quick dash, she was in front of him, her foot rammed into his face. The moment Ichigo fell back he was grabbed from behind, as Renji's arms took a firm grip on him.

A slap fell on his face.

From the left, from the right… three, four, five… How many times did Rukia hit him? He couldn't tell – he was no longer feeling the pain, as his skin went numb.

Her hand, inside of the all too familiar bright red glove landed on his head. Her tiny fingers clutched his orange hair, as his soul was forcefully yanked out of his body.

Still holding him by his hair, Rukia ran out the window with Ichigo helplessly chasing after her. Left behind them, the remaining students in the classroom struggled to comprehend what has happened.

"She just killed him, didn't she…?" was one of the most common conclusions.

* * *

Approximately five minutes later, Ichigo stormed across the rooftops with Rukia riding on his back.

"Hey… Rukia? Where are you taking me, anyways?" Instead of answering, she tapped him on the head with her cell phone.

"Shut up." She continued to mess with the phone, trying to locate their target. Click, click, click… "Don't talk. Just focus on running."

One more step. Ichigo blew over an intersection. _'Wonder what everyone down there is thinking… seeing a girl flying through the air like that' _Leave it to Rukia to stay in her gigai while riding on his back…

'_**Not like you're complaining… Eh, King?'**_ Ichigo nearly fell of the roof after hearing of his hollow's voice.

'_What do you want now?'_

The hollow snorted at him.

'_**Che! What's the matter, King? Your voice seems to be a lot less cowardly than it was the last time we had a chat. Did something happen?'**_ Ichigo felt a quiver running up the back of his spine. The times when his hollow acted politely were always the worst. Stilling his breathing, he desperately tried not to betray any of his feelings to Rukia. He forced his muscles, which were already tensing, to relax.

'_**Aww… Does she have such an effect on you, King? Isn't she the one that occupies your thoughts whenever you're not scared shitless thinking 'bout me?'**_ The demon's grin grew larger, as his gaze that Ichigo could feel all too well begun to emanate bloodlust. He braced himself for the words the hollow would most definitely say… _**'Don't worry yourself, King… I'll make sure to give her a t-'**_ Her voice drew their attention.

"Ichigo. Over there!" Tracing her pointing finger, he saw a nearby rooftop. Changing course in an instant, Ichigo was on target a second later. He bent down a bit to let Rukia off, then turned to face her. He prayed she wouldn't notice that his hands were shaking. He looked in those deep violet eyes. Those eyes were like two oceans… In them, a man could drown and die happy.

* * *

As their eyes made contact, she carefully examined him. Without a doubt, something has changed in him.

Inwardly, she flinched a bit when she looked him in the eyes, for it was there. Behind the depressed gaze. Behind the hopelessness.

A tiny streak of black.

Almost invisible, but still there, haunting Ichigo's thoughts. Despite his best efforts to hide it, he couldn't fool her. Neither her, nor Urahara.

There, in that single black streak, as if it squinted at her… She knew without a doubt. Almost unconsciously, her eyes began to narrow, her breath to hasten, her hands tremble with excitement – no not excitement, but with that distinct feeling, that only reveals itself in the midst of battle. And mixed with it was a fear, a fear unlike any she had felt since the death of her former fukutaicho, Shiba Kaien. _'Ichigo… Was Urahara right?' _She had to look away. _'Ichigo, has your hollow really become this strong… strong enough to turn you from the way you were on Sokyoku hill… into this?'_

The sound of a small explosion got their attention. Both of them ran up to the guardrail.

There, across the small backyard of the building they were on, standing three meters tall, a muscular hollow landed on the ground. Where his feet hit the concrete the pavement cracked, sending dust and small debris everywhere.

It had to be now. Before Ichigo would be given time to think, before he could remember his fears, she had to force him to fight. She could already hear him mutter out the word _hollow_.

'_It has to be now.'_

In a single swipe of her leg, she kicked him of the building.

"Go get him!"

* * *

'_Go get him, she says… Stupid Rukia.' _He looked up the large figure of the hollow standing in front of him, as he tried to get up. And landing artistically on his face wasn't helping at all. He carefully examined his opponent. The hollow's upper jaw and face seemed to be shaped like a beak, while the same shape of the hollow's mask went down the back of the creature's head and neck, ending in a tip slightly above it's hole.

'_Now, if only my own hollow would butt out of the way and let me see something…'_ The blackness had already spread across thirty percent of his vision.

'_**Sure thing, King! I'll get out of your way… or not.' **_Ichigo removed the zanpakutou from his back.

'_Tsk, stupid albino.'_ A hard push from his inner world snapped him out of musing.

'_**Wake up, twinkle toes! Those cinderblock claws of his might just clobber you if you stand still for long enough…'**_ Ichigo ducked, then rolled away from the green hollow. The familiar sensation of fear overcame him, as he remembered his fight with that giant freak the other day. If his inner hollow would to try to do the same here…

'_**Like I'd need to.'**_ Ichigo heard in response. It was as if the hollow had read his thoughts._** ' I'm already so close to you now! And I don't intend on stopping here! I'm gonna get much, much, MUCH closer…'**_ The hollows laughter echoed throughout this mind. _**'I'll swallow you up, TILL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT!'**_

Ichigo's whole body froze up, as the hollow tried pushing himself into control. A second later, the feeling was gone.

Unaware of his predicament, the large hollow struck out, slamming its cinderblock claws into Ichigo's still-in-wrappings zanpakutou.

'_No good! I can't draw my blade like this!'_ He tried to jump away. '_What's the matter with me? Why can't I-'_

"I know all about it."

It was something in Rukia's words that made him look at her. She was looking at him with those sad eyes of hers, just like before… when Byakuya took her away, to be executed. She didn't stop there.

"I know that, since you were defeated by the arrancar, you haven't turned into a shinigami. Not once. What are you so afraid of? Chad got hurt. Inoue almost died. What of it? Are you a man whose resolve is that easily broken?"

He could hear the snickering of his hollow in the back of his mind.

'_**Oh, now this is getting interesting, king.'**_

Ignoring the hollow completely, he focused all of his attention on her. He stared at her, completely unaware of his inner hollow, or the hollow that threatened to kill him at any moment. Other than _her_, the whole world ceased to exist.

'_You... Rukia…' _He stared at her… at her beautiful violet eyes… her raven hair, moving in the gentle breeze. _'You… You knew…'_

"Or are you afraid of the hollow that lives inside of you? ARE YOU AFRAID OF BECOMING A HOLLOW YOURSELF?" Her fists clenched as she let go of all her anger. _'Now, Ichigo… fight!'_

"If you are afraid of defeat, get stronger and win. If you are afraid that the people you care about will die, get stronger and swear on your soul that you will protect them. And that hollow of yours… If you fear him so much, than get stronger and keep on getting stronger, until you crush him! Even if you can't rely on anyone else… Just pull yourself together and roar!" With her hand pointing at her heart she screamed at him.

"The "you" that still lives on in my heart, Ichigo… WOULD DO EXACTLY THAT!"

* * *

'_**The "you" that still lives on in my heart, Ichigo…would do exactly that? Don't make me laugh!' **_the hollow mocked. _**'It's too late for that NOW! Hah-hah-ha! What do you have to say to that, Ichigo?' **_the hollow spat out Ichigo's name as if it was the worst insult he could think of. _**'What can you possibly do…?'**_

"I can kill." With those words, the massive cleaver was out of the wrappings, as Ichigo's reiatsu burst outwards, causing the hollow in front of him to stumble.

Rukia sighed in relief, as she saw the grin return to his face.

"Tch, like I said… You're too noisy!" To her, those words sounded like reassurance…

* * *

(Several hours later, at Kurosaki residence)

The hollow was standing hidden inside Ichigo's thoughts, on the very edge of the inner world, silently observing the thoughts of his host. Surprisingly, Ichigo still hasn't raised his barriers. He found himself thoroughly amazed at how no one was able to read the shinigami substitute's emotions. Well, not like Ichigo made it any easier for them, always hiding behind that scowl of his and always making such a fuss over minute details.

'_**Seriously, to go to such lengths just to hide your feeling toward that girl… Ichigo**__**, you moron…'**_ He actually dumped her in the room of his sisters. And now he was bickering with that same girl about the quality of his closet…

Just when he considered rising beyond the edge of the sideways world, he felt a monstrous pulse of reiatsu overwhelming his senses.

'_**Oh, no…'**_

* * *

Ichigo's eyes went wide with shock, as he left it. Without thinking, he grabbed his shinigami substitute badge, ramming it against his chest.

"This reiatsu… Rukia, it's them!"

Immediately, Ichigo and Rukia rushed out of the house and into the streets outside.

'_Where? Where will they strike?'_ He tried to use his senses to pick up the location of the arrancar, but with his own strong reiatsu masking everything he could only feel that they were out there, somewhere.

'_Damn, I suck at stuff like this…'_

Rukia was already busy accessing the orders from Soul Society. She stared in disbelief as the screen light up with the estimated locations and numbers of the arrancar invaders.

"Two… three… No, there are six of them!" Still in disbelief, she shook her head. "How can there be so many of them!"

"Where are they?" He could see the fear building up in her eyes.

"They're spreading in all directions! Ichigo… they're going after everyone, no matter how small their reiatsu might be!" _'No…'_ "They'll kill everyone who has it!"

Immediately, the faces of his friends flashed in front of his eyes.

"Right now, Ishida's reiatsu should be zero… But what about Chad and Inoue?"

"Inoue should be fine, she has both Hitsugaya-taicho and Matsumoto-fukutaicho with her. Chad on the other hand is…" _'Oh, no… No!' _"Ichigo, one of them is almost there!"

'_Oh, no… No!'_ Ichigo was already starting to fear the worst. _'Just hold out till we get there, Chad. I'm not letting you down again!'_

* * *

'_**Ichigo is rushing into battle again, and he still hasn't raised his barriers? I don't get it.'**_ He turned to face the black mist that became Zangetsu.

"**Why isn't he raisin' his barriers, Zangetsu-san? Isn't he scared I might try somethin' durin' the fight?"**

The zanpakutou tilted his head in confusion. _**'Can't he realize?'**_

"**The reason Ichigo hasn't wasted his power to hold you back is because of the new opponents – these arrancar, as they are called." **He walked passed the hollow. **"You fear them as well, don't you, hollow?"**

The hollow spun around. Shock clearly etched on his face.

"**Like hell I'd be scared of them!"** But the zanpakutou simply shook his head, the look in his eyes showing pity, as a mocking smile lingered on his face.

"**Just like your 'King' can't hide the truth from your eyes, so neither can you from mine." **He took a step closer to the hollow, looking him directly in the eyes. **"You fear them greatl-" **Before he could finish, the black mist enveloped him again. When it cleared, Zangetsu was gone.

"**Remember this, Zangetsu-san. I fear **_**no one**_**. And don't you dare forget that ever again…" **He continued to ponder whether or not to raise himself outside of the sideways world. With his right hand, he furiously clutched the hilt of his zanpakutou, forcing back the dark truth…

* * *

"You lose." Those were the arrancar's words as he lunged at Chad's chest, ready to deliver the killing blow. In the split of a second, his hand was forced to stop, for in the middle of its trajectory it was halted by Ichigo's iron-hard grip.

"Would you drop the 'you lose' crap." Ichigo said as he tossed back the arrancar with the tattooed number 16. "Chad, please… Can you sit this one out?"

Without saying a word, Chad turned and ran, with a disturbed look on his face. _'Am I no longer strong enough to watch your back, Ichigo? If you haven't interfered, I would have most certainly died.'_

…

…

"Okay then. I'll just say it again after I kill all of you!" The arrancar rushed towards Ichigo however, before he could hit him, he was intercepted by Rukia.

"On my way here I saw Chad. What exactly did you say to him, Ichigo?" He looked at her, not sure what she was implying.

"Nothing. I just asked him to let me handle it." She continued looking at him, but he didn't say a word. _'How can you be so dense about this kind of stuff…'_

"Ichigo, get out of the way."

He looked at her in confusion. "Are you sure? Rukia, does this mean that-"

"Surprised, aren't you?" She reached for her belt, unsheathing her blade. "That stupid gigai from Urahara was the only problem my powers haven't returned to normal sooner."

Ichigo was going to ask her something else, but the instant he opened his mouth he felt a crushing weight pressing against his shoulders. He fell to the ground, face first into the concrete.

'_Damn, what the hell…' _He twisted his neck in order to see who was pining him to the ground. _'Well that's a shocker.'_

There kneeling on his spine was Rukia.

"What the hell are you!" he screamed into this pseudo-Rukia's face.

"More importantly, please graciously clear yourself form the premises~pyon!" With an almost impossibly wide smile, the pseudo-Rukia started yanking him away from the real Rukia and the arrancar.

"Get out of my face, damn it! And what the hell are you imitating rabbits!"

* * *

The bleached version of Ichigo was starting to get annoyed. He has already raised his conscience above the inner world. And feeling that stupid gigai yanking their arm as if it was going to break it wasn't really helping improve his mood. Not yet. He could always kill her… sometimes later…

He felt another hard yank on his arm.

"**GAAAH! Knock it off already!" **Woops. The hollow felt like biting his own ass – he gave himself away!

Through his thoughts, Ichigo addressed him.

'_What do you want?'_

"**Just gazin' at the scenery, King. You got a problem with that?" **He heard Ichigo mentally scoffing.

'_Gazing at the scenery my ass. What are you up to?'_

"**Can't I be honest sometimes too?"**

'…'

"**Right, forget I said anything." **The hollow raised his hand, then scratched the back of his head. **"Listen… King. Why are ya pretendin' not to be scared shitless of these guys**?" Seeing that Ichigo was preparing to reply, he quickly continued. **"And don't ya give me that crap that you're not scared or somethin', because ya can't hide your emotions from me." **He grinned as the smallest traces of confusion appeared on Ichigo's face. _**'How can he pretend to keep his cool, listen to that crazy gigai on the outside and me on the inside at the same time? Che, what a moron.'**_

'_What do you know?'_

"**Did I hit the nerve with that one? Come on, Ichigo. You know this just as good as I do. How do I know? Because I'm you. Period. Well… the better part of you at least."**

…

…

…

"**Come on, don't give me the silent treatment! Look! Your girl just won! Can't you be happy for a second and stop paying attention to who you're talking to?"**

But Ichigo's mind was busy. _'Rukia beat him so easily. I don't…' _He could clearly feel the power output of the now dead arrancar throughout the entire fight. _'I just don't get i-'_

"**I do." **This comment got Ichigo's attention.

Seeing that his 'King' was again paying attention to him, the hollow explained while at the same time trying to leave out as much insults and threats as he could.

"**Listen, moron. That guy was an arrancar, there's no way to deny that. Spread your senses outwards a bit. Can't ya feel it, ya twit? The other arrancar are stronger, but not enough to be considered a whole new league compared to this one."**

'_What's your point?'_ The hollow could feel the vein near his eye starting to throb.

"**These guys are their footsoldiers! So the two we faced before must have been something like their generals! Are you seriously that dense!'**

'_Generals don't have to be stronger that their subordinates.'_

"**Yea, while that may work with you humans, there's no way a hollow would follow someone weaker than they were! The very thought of such a thing is laughable."**

Ichigo, while convinced that the hollow was onto something, still failed to see the bigger picture.

'_Ok, so they're the generals of Aizen's arrancar army. So what?'_

"**Are you trying to set a new world record in stupidity or something'?" **The hollow shook his head in shear disbelief that anyone could be so dense. **"If you just tak-" **before he could complete his sentence, both of Ichigos felt a monstrous reiatsu approaching them slowly from the sky.

* * *

As Ichigo focused all of his attention outward, he found himself starring at the bearer of the monstrous reiatsu that he felt earlier. The blue-haired arrancar glared at them, with his hands still stuck in his pockets. As the arrancar started talking, the fragment of his mask that looked like a peace of the jawbone began opening and closing with every time the arrancar opened his mouth a bit wider.

"So… You two were the ones who did in D. Roy, hugh?" He pulled out one of his hands as his feet touched the ground. "The name is _Grimmjow_ Jaegerjaquez, arrancar no. 6. Well, which one of you is it?"

Ichigo looked over towards Rukia. _'No good, she looks like she's petrified from just standing near that guy. I need to think of some thing, fast!'_

'_**You could always-'**_

'_No.'_

'_**Suit yourself. Don't die.'**_

'_Worried?'_

'_**Shut up. I don't wanna die just because you were too proud to let me handle things.'**_

Unaware of the internal discussion going on inside of Ichigo's mind, the arancar took a steep closer.

"Didn't you two losers hear me the first time? I asked… **Which one of you is the stronger!**"

Rukia screamed to him to run. Ichigo immediately unsheathed the massive cleaver from his back.

A flash ensued.

Blood splattered everywhere.

Standing right next to him, the arrancar raised his hand. Impaled on it was…

"RUKIA!"

The arrancar grinned, licking the few traces of her blood that got near his lips.

"Not this one, I guess."

* * *

Author's note: Whoa, that took a long time to write! Guess I got some explaining to do here. Fist of all, did anyone notice how hard it is to portray Ichigo depressed/disturbed/worried or something along the line of those for a longer period of time and keep the story interesting at the same time? It's really hard. I actually had to start writing this chapter from scrap three times!

Yea, about Ichigo's head injury… I have no medical knowledge whatsoever, so if my estimate to the what's-underneath-the-bandage was wrong, sorry.

A fun thing – Did you know that the whole scene between Ichigo/Hollow Ichigo/Rukia was inspired by the moment she tapped him on the head with her phone? Weird, isn't it?

Ten points to anyone who figured out the difference between the ways Ichigo's inner hollow thinks and talks.

_PS: Your reviews are very important. And the button is conveniently right below. Click it. Click it. Click it. _

_PPS: Kurotsuchi Mayuri's looking for new test subjects. So you better review (or volunteer, it's up to you (XD))._

_Well then… See ya next time!_

_~KuroiTori-sama_


	3. Chapter 3: In the name of the mask

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

Chapter three – In the name of the mask

_Previously on "Choose your fate"… _

_

* * *

_"_RUKIA!"_

_The arrancar grinned, licking the few traces of her blood that got near his lips._

"_Not this one, I guess."_

* * *

The arrancar grinned, hearing the desperation in the shinigami's voice. Ichigo charged at him, swiping the massive blade sideways, in intent to cleave his opponent in two.

Unimpressed, the arrancar Grimmjow nonchalantly raised his hand, stopping the blade with his naked wrist. Despite the blade hitting his veins, not even a mark was left on the surface of the skin. Not even bothering to pull his other hand out of his pocket, Grimmjow swung outwards, sending Ichigo flying through the air.

"Now, now… Are you sure you're not underestimating me a bit here, shinigami?" He took a step closer. "You know…" He said, as a wicked grin spread over his face. "I still don't feel like killing you. So come on already – hit me with your Bankai. Otherwise…" He pointed towards Rukia, "You'll just end up full of holes!"

Ichigo raised his zanpakutou.

"BANKAI!"

* * *

As the insane battle between the shinigami representative and the arrancar escalated, Chappy found herself being pushed to the brink of her capabilities. First, she tried to carry her wounded mistress out of the way, but the ever-increasing reiatsu levels soon forced her to her knees. She grabbed the fire hydrant next to her and pulled on it hard, but with the increased strain on her muscles that proved overwhelming, she collapsed back to the ground. She saw Ichigo blurring overhead, pressed hard to keep up with the blue haired arrancar's speed and strength.

'_It's no use, pyon… I can't…'_ the gikon mussed when she felt a shadow falling over her face. Turning over to her back to get a better look at who it was, she let out a happy squeak.

"Ichigo has won~PYO-O-O-" only to see Ichigo in his shinigami form being slammed into the pavement some three hundred meters away. With a deadpanned expression she continued. "Oh it's just Kon-pyon."

Uncharacteristically for him, Kon didn't reply, but instead reached down and pulled Chappy on to his back. With his face grimaced in pain, he reached down again, gently picking up wounded and unconscious Rukia into his arms. Even though the reiatsu the two fighters were giving off was strong, he was still able to walk around without too much hindrance – all due to the fact that he was an under-pod. For a millionth time since he set out of the Kurosaki family residence, he thanked the heavens for making him into a modsoul and not just another gikon.

"Hold on tigh-NOT-SO-TIGHT!" He yelled when Chappy's grip cut off his air. "Let's get you two outta here." He said, gently pressing the body of his unconscious nee-san against his own, trying to cause as little damage as possible to her.

He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as Chappy gave him a headbut.

"Keep your hands off of Rukia-sama's posterior-pyon!"

"Chappy!" Kon sounded insulted. "I would never even think to do something like that to nee-san!" But Chappy hit him again.

"Then move your hand-pyon!"

As the two moved away from the ever-heating battle that seemed to rage on indefinitely, Kon could only muss. _'How did she catch up so quickly…'_

* * *

"Come on, shinigami! Is that the best you can do? If this goes on I won't even have to use my other hand!" The arrancar Grimmjow taunted. In return, Ichigo shunpo-ed to the building wall to Grimmjow's left, then again, appearing behind the arrancar's back. The arrancar struck out, but Ichigo arched his back allowing the outstretched arm of the arrancar to pass through nothing but air.

Saying nothing to the taunt, he tried to shunpo just in front of Grimmjow, then in the last moment shunpo-ed back and avoiding the lethal jab, using all his skill in shunpo to appear above the arrancar's head, effectively catching him off guard.

'_I have you now, arrancar!'_

But all was for naught, as Grimmjow's other hand instantly gripped the black blade of Tensa Zangetsu in mid air, it's tip only millimeters from his face.

'_Shit!'_

Ichigo was trapped. No mater how hard he pulled on the blade, he couldn't break free of the arrancar's grip.

'_Shit, shit, shit, SHIT! He's got me!'_ But, on the contrary to what he believed, the arrancar simply tossed him back into the air. With a nonchalant look, the arrancar waved at him, irking Ichigo to attack him again. But as Ichigo used the speed of his Bankai to reach the arrancar, Grimmjow sidestepped and kicked him in the back, driving him face first into the concrete. He used his own version of shunpo to return to the sky. Scratching the back of his head, with a bored expression on his face the arracar shouted towards the huge cloud of dust and debris that filled the air where Ichigo fell.

"Yo, shinigami! Come on! Ya're depressing me here! Is your speed the only thing that Bankai can increase?"

Seeing no movement, Grimmjow readied himself to swoop down in one last, savage killing blow. But just before he leapt at his young shinigami foe, he felt a surge of reiatsu beneath the dust cloud, its resonating force blasting the cloud away.

There, in the center of it all, standing firm inside a small crater, Ichigo was ready with his ultimate technique. The black blade soared into the sky, then slashed downwards.

"Getsuga… TENSHOU!"

Gimmjow only got to mutter out a faint 'what the f-' before the massive column of high density reiatsu had slammed into his body. In the very last moment, right before impact, he managed to raise his hands in front of himself, shattering the surging flow of power, forcing the black crescent moon to dissipate in a large sphere surrounding his body.

"What the hell was that, shinigami? Ulquiorra didn't mention anything like that in his report!"

From the ground, he heard Ichigo mock him.

"Am I still depressing you, arrancar?" He said, looking at the large gashes on Grimmjow's arm and chest. Deep inside his own brain, he felt some commotion, as the hollow might have intended to say something for the moment, but in the last second decided not to.

Hearing such a trivial provocation coming from the shinigami, Grimmjow found it ever harder to suppress his own bloodlust. With a powerful swipe of his hand, the blade resting on his side was nearly ripped out of its scabbed. Holding the blade in front of his face, his fingers stroke its broadside, his fingernails scratching its surface.

"Kishire…"

'_This is it, this is it!' _Ichigo thought to himself. He would hold or he would fall. No retries, no second chances. Again, from deep within the depths of his mind, a small feeling of reluctance began emanating, only to stop a split second later.

'_I can do this! I have to do th-' _his train of thoughts came to an abrupt stop, as his hands began wavering, his knees barely supporting his weight. _'No way! It can't be… Not yet!'_ He felt a wave of panic threatening to sweep him away. _'No way have I already reached my limit! I can still fight!'_ Blackness began spreading through his field of vision. _'No!' _he screamed inwardly.

'_Don't interfere! This is my fight!'_ He screamed at his hollow.

There was no response.

The arrancar's reiatsu continued to increase. Like in slow-motion, his fingers continued scratching down the surface of the blade.

"Pan-"

Out of a black hole in the sky, a hand came out. Its fingers gripped tightly around Grimmjow's wrist, preventing his Resurrección. As the hole spread wider, it revealed the figure of the former captain of the ninth division, Tousen Kaname.

"Attacking the material world… bringing over five arrancar by your own will… And then leading them all to their deaths…" Tousen didn't bother to even look at the arrancar, let alone notice the shinigami substitute on the ground. "It was all against orders." The faintest traces of fear began appearing in Grimmjow's eyes, as they began to widen. "You understand what this means, do you? Aizen-sama is furious." Already, the arrancar's skin went from normal to a shade of gray. No amount of bloodlust, no amount of neither false nor true hardheadedness could cover up the fact that the image of Aizen furious would always turn his blood to ice – every single time.

"Come. Your punishment will be decided in Hueco Mundo."

As both the ex-captain and the arrancar turned to leave, Ichigo shouted at them.

"WAIT! Where are you going!" He felt as if something was mentally tugging on him, trying to make him back off, but he ignored it.

With his jaw clenched tightly from fury, Grimmjow managed to mutter out the words 'you're noisy' as he continued walking.

"I have to go back… To Hueco Mundo."

Ichigo clenched his blade, his blood boiling.

"Bullshit! You attack us suddenly, then out of nowhere – you run away! Who are you joking with here! OUR FIGHT ISN'T OVER!"

These words made Grimmjow stop. With a look of disgust, he faced the shinigami substitute.

"Our fight isn't over? Now who are _you_ joking? Whose life exactly… was saved by our fight not being finished? Be grateful, for now. And don't you dare forget my name! It's Grimmjow! Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez! And pray that you never hear it again – for if you do… It will spell your death, shinigami!"

* * *

Ichigo was on his knees. His opponent… Both his opponent and the ex-captain that had accidentally saved his life… they were both gone. Long gone.

He was now on his knees, thinking hard of what had happened.

'_I don't know whether to laugh or to cry…'_ Like in a flashback, he could see himself scared out of his wits, when his vision became blurry. He actually thought his hollow tried to take over, back then. _'It was just exhaustion.'_

Again, for who knows what time, he felt a tug inside his mind.

'_See… I could hold my own without your help.'_ He thought, only to remember who he was addressing. Even though the hollow said nothing in reply, the silence worked better than any words at that moment. What it spoke was as clear as daylight – it was only a stroke of sheer luck, to be still able to even breathe… It made the reality of the outcome even harder to deny.

Coming form somewhere behind him, Renji silently observed the destruction before turning to Ichigo.

"Did you win?" He asked.

Without moving an inch, Ichigo simply replied. "I lost."

"You shithead, you won by staying alive…" Ichigo cut him off.

"Don't lie to me. You wouldn't be saying such things if you were in my position. I can't protect… anyone. Those that were wounded… I cannot heal. And, on top of everything… I lost." Without saying another word, Ichigo shakily rose to his feet, as his Bankai regressed back into the large cleaver. Swinging the blade in a wide arc, he poured a bit of his remaining power into the wrapping cloth that hanged from the hilt of the blade, causing it to extend and coil around the exposed blade.

Completing the arc, he placed the now fully wrapped blade on his back, walking away… towards Urahara's shop… Towards Rukia…

* * *

A full day has passed since the first major confrontation between the arrancar and the shinigami, and now the defenders of Karakura city were once more in distress – their resident shinigami, the shinigami substitute was m.i.a. Missing-in-action. After his confrontation with the powerful arrancar named Gimmjow, he went to Urahara's shop, where he waited for Rukia to heal. After an attempt to apologize to her, he walked out of the shop.

He wasn't seen since.

It has now been two days. Throughout the past eighteen hours all the shinigami, albeit Hitsugaya-taicho who was overseeing the whole operation, and spiritually aware humans were outside combing the city, trying to find some trace of their wayward friend.

Their successfulness – zero.

It wasn't long before Rukia found herself talking to Urahara again. Even though Ichigo himself already said that he would not hound Urahara with questions, reasoning that if Urahara knew anything, he would have already revealed it, Rukia simply couldn't let it lie. She had lost track of how many times she had come to the shop, trying to get some clue, some idea that might make it possible for her to help Ichigo in his struggle.

And every single time, Urahara could only give her one answer – 'Believe in him.' It was becoming obvious that, even to him, such visits from Rukia were becoming very uncomfortable, making him unable to even look her in the eyes during their conversations.

Rukia realized it too, without a doubt, but still… She had to find something… Some way… Anything… She…

She was completely lost. She already searched all the places Ichigo used to go to, but no mater how much she and the others searched, they couldn't find any trace of him – as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth…

Slowly loosing her composure, she entered a narrow ally. Her legs, as if no longer able to support her gave way, as she collapsed. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she pressed her face on to them.

'"_We must not shed tears. That is the defeat of the body by the heart. Because, for us, this thing called 'the heart' can become nothing less than proof that one's existence is superfluous."_ – _It was our credo, something to live by… but… I…'_ No longer able to hold it in, she let out a silent sob, as her tears rolled down her face.

* * *

The truth be told, Ichigo technically hadn't disappeared from the face of the world. Not yet, anyway.

After leaving Urahara's shop the night before, Ichigo made a short stop home, only to get his body back, which was empty at the moment with Kon already having been returned to his plushy form.

As the night fell, he made his way to the abandoned warehouse at the edge of town, near the river. Standing before the large closed gates of the warehouse, Ichigo knew that, if there was any way for him to win against his hollow it would have to lie with them… The Vaizard.

Mustering his courage, he reached for the handle, opening the door.

From the inside, half concealed in the dark, Hirako Shinji grined.

"We've been waitin' for ya… Ichigo."

* * *

Ichigo collapsed on his knee. Leaning on Zangetsu's large cleaver, he pulled himself back up to his feet.

"**Come on baldy. Bring out that hollow of yours out already!" **

His opponent, the short blond girl with an attitude continued to taunt him. On her face, a bone hollow mask resided. From its forehead, a large horn protruded.

"No way in hell am gonna do that!"

"**Then die."**

* * *

(Inside Ichigo's inner world)

"**Shit, what was that!"** The hollow stumbled, grabbing on to the pole Zangetsu used to stand on to maintain his balance.

Another quake shook the foundations of the building he was standing on. He tried reaching for Ichigo, but with all the distress going on he stumbled again, tripping over a protrusion on one of the windows, causing him to fall over the edge of the tower.

"**SHIT!" **He shouted a second before slamming face-first onto another tower beneath the one he fell off. Rising back on his knees, he rubbed his sore nose.

'_**Sadness makes it rainy, fear makes it dark, shame hot. But…'**_ he listed all of the emotional responses the sideways world would display in accordance to Ichigo's feelings. **"What kind of a fucked up emotion can trigger an earthquake!"**

After another particularly hard tremor, he finally managed to get his conscience above the boundary that separated the two words and looked through Ichigo's eyes. Feeling Ichigo's thoughts, the hollow was astounded by how blurry they were.

'_I won't… Aizen… to call out to… I will never… Rukia… what… shit, it hurts… the hollow… vaizard… Rukia… never… never… I will… I'_ the trail went on forever.

'_**What on earth is that idiot babbling on about?'**_ With another violent tremor, the hollow found himself thrown back inside of the sideways world.

"**His mind is in turmoil, for he is struggling against the very core of his being."** The hollow looked over his shoulder to see Zangetsu emerging from a black mist.

"**In turmo-what? What are ya talking 'bout now, Zangetsu-san?" **The zanpakutou remained silent for a second, then continued.

"**You heard what they are asking him to do?"**

"**Yea."** The zanpakutou sighed.

"**They are telling him to rely on your power. Can you truly expect that he would ever do something like that?" **

The hollow frowned, as he looked down to the ground. **"…"** He didn't know how to answer to that question.

"**Zangetsu-san."** The zanpakutou looked at him with surprise written all over his face as the look in the hollows eyes turned to determination.

"**What are you planning?"** The zanpakutou demanded to know.

For a moment, they were both thrown to their knees, as the most powerful tremor so far hit. In the thunderous noise of the tremor, a name echoed longingly. Even though the hollow failed to hear the name itself, there was no way that he would fail to guess it.

"**If this keeps up, that masked girl is gonna kill him… I have no intention of dying."**

"**You intend on helping him?"**

The hollow opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something in reply, but then he just turned and walked away, slowly raising his consciousness towards the edge of the sideways world.

'_**It's… not quite what I have in mind… Zangetsu-san…'**_

* * *

As Ichigo dodged another blow, his hollow was getting restless, as his fighting hand itched for a chance to grasp the zanpakutou and slash. His chance would soon come. Inwardly he smirked as he observed how Ichigo's internal defenses were crumbling one after another. And every time Ichigo would use his powers to withstand another blow from the girl's zanpakutou, Ichigo's own reiatsu weakened. Little by little… The way out was opening.

Already, the hollow could feel as if with a minimal effort he could push his way into control.

Yet he didn't.

Why?

'_**Curiosity killed the cat, they say… Sure hope it doesn't end up killing me, too…'**_ That was his only reason – curiosity. What was that mask on the girl's face? Who were these 'Vaizard' as they called themselves? _**'So many questions, so little time… Che.'**_ Ichigo was getting tired… Soon, it would be his turn. He could hear Ichigo's thoughts again, though this time they were back to normal.

'_I just have to wait and think… How can she remain sane with that mask on? Did her hollow step out… or did she put it on herself?'_ The hollow felt amused at how he could always look inside Ichigo's thoughts and yet Ichigo could only hear him when the hollow would address him directly. He once again turned his attention to his host's thoughts.

'_I have to watch her, constantly. Have to use it and learn. That's why I came here in the first place!' _As the blood flowed freely from his wounds, Ichigo continued to weigh his options. _'I can't use my bankai and suppress the hollow at the same time… My soul can't take both stresses at the same time-e …'_

Everyone inside the warehouse jumped up in alarm as Ichigo let out a murderous scream. Before anyone could react, he pinned Hiyori against a concrete pillar. Across half of his face, a mask with red, curved fang-like patterns appeared. Her own mask shattered on impact, as the back of her head slammed into the cold flat surface of the pillar. The blackness rapidly fled from the sclera of her eyes, as it itself was fleeing in fear from the murderous intent the nameless hollow from within Ichigo was releasing into the outside world.

Right before her windpipe was crushed; the hollofied Ichigo was pulled back and slammed against the floor, with each vaizard zanpakutou tip was now just inches from his face.

The hollow though completely aware of this newfound situation he was in, had more important things to think about. Right before he could scream out though, Hirako embedded the tip of his blade into the mask, shattering it instantly, causing the scream to echo throughout Ichigo's mind.

'_**GET YOUR BIG FAT BUTT OFF ME, PINKY!'**_

* * *

(Back inside of the sideways world)

"**Oh… I don't feel so good…"** the hollow muttered, as he sat on the edge of the sideways tower. He pressed his hand over his mouth, as another wave of nausea took it's hold. With the corner of his eye, the hollow noticed Zangetsu. '_**When did I let him ou-, ohhh…' **_the rest of his thought came out as a garbled mental noise.

"**What are you doing now?"** The zanpakutou asked.

"**Why is the world spinning?" **The hollow asked in return. After receiving a raised eyebrow as a reply, he did his best to push back the horrid feeling in his stomach, _**'Wait, I have a stomach? Well, that's new…'**_

The zanpakutou continued to stare at him. The hollow, shook his head, with a small grin on his face, as he tried to get up. The second later, he regretted ever moving, as the strongest wave of nausea yet hit him with full force.

"**I believe that this is the aftereffect of your mask being shattered." **

Glaring at him from the corner of his eye, the hollow asked in annoyance.

"**How the hell do ya seem to know every damn thing 'bout shit every single time it hap-"** _**'oh, shit!'**_ Immediately, the hollow poked his head over the building's rim.

Zangetsu took a step back. On his face, a clear expression of disapproval and disgust indicated his thoughts of the hollow's actions. Seconds later, the disgusting sound and smell filled the air. Fully utilizing his freedom, Zangetsu took another step back, disappearing in to the cloud of black mist that was his prison, leaving his jailor to suffer.

Meanwhile, the hollow barely noticed that the zanpakutou disappeared.

'_**Oh, man… If this is what it's like to get your mask shattered… I don't think I'll be trying that again any time soon…'**_

As his stomach finally began to settle down, Ichigo's bleached counterpart reflected on the most recent events.

"**Ok, lemme see here… I got thrown around like a rag doll…" **_**'Fell on my face, too'**_** "I got my mask shattered…" **_**'That one hurt like a bich…'**_ the hollow mussed,** "…and best of all – that stupid tub of lard SAT ON ME!" **_**'Now, how's that stupid King of mine supposed to take me seriously if some thing like that happens?'**_

"**That's it. Next time I see him, I'll just rip that stupid crown offa' his chopped-of head!"**

* * *

Author's note: Well, that's the end of chapter three! Next time – it's the long awaited mach between the two polar opposites!

Before people get mad at me for the hollow's language (he has a bit of a foul mouth, I know), I kinda figured he wasn't the type to hold back the complements (being sarcastic here – read as _insults_).

Also, I found it funny that there is absolutely zilch things known when it comes to inner hollow anatomy. Thought it would be even funnier if the hollow himself didn't know anything about it either.

Ichigo made Rukia-chan cry! Everyone, get your pitchforks and torches! *Ichigo gulps, then runs away*

_Kishire - grind_

I'm really starting to hate this stupid quick-edit thingy. It mysteriously eats the dividers I place before uploading so I have to place new ones… Actually, it tends to eat a lot of things that shouldn't be eaten, like for example the "!" and the "?" marks whenever I put them together, or the triple exclamation mark. I need those two symbols, for pity sake!

Wow, that's a long author's note. Well anyways, hope you liked this chapter, and hope I'll be seeing you (even though I can't actually see any of you – this ain't Skype or MSN… lol) next time, with chapter four: _"In the name of the mask, part two"_

_~KuroiTori-sama_

_PS: Your reviews are very important. And the button is conveniently right below. Click it. Click it. Click it. _

_PPS_: _Aaroniero Arruruerie is hungry. So you might wanna review._


	4. Chapter4: In the name of the mask, part2

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

* * *

Chapter four – In the name of the mask, part two

* * *

Outside, it had already gotten dark.

Two hours had passed after his fight with the vaizard girl, Hiyori. Despite the fact that the girl herself was in no better condition than he himself was, he barely even noticed that fact. After all – he wasn't the one to fight her when she was defeated. As he tried to move into a more comfortable position in his lounge chair that the vaizard gave him, he struggled to make half of his muscles work the way he wanted them to.

'_It's as if they all have gone on a collective strike.' _

He frowned at the irony of his thoughts – he himself wouldn't mind going on a strike ether.

'_At least I got this trinket.'_ He thought to himself, as he toyed with the mp3 player he got from that blond guy. _'The bird look-alike.'_ As he went through the large number of songs, he realized that the were a whole bunch of them that weren't Japanese. Heck, they weren't even the same genre – there were all sorts of them, from rock, rap and metal to classical and even church music!

As another rock song began playing, Ichigo felt his eye twitch – that wasn't what he was looking for. As he moved his finger over the 'next track' button, a sudden cramp made him drop the player into his lap.

"_What the h-" _he gulped as the pain traveled through his hand. He quickly started rubbing his hand, hoping to somewhat relax the aching muscle. It was then that he first thought he heard a silent voice, almost below the threshold of hearing. Trying his best to ignore the pain in his hand, he focused on what he heard.

One by one, the words became clear for him to hear. It seemed as if there was a small echo behind them.

'_What…'_

…

_**You left me living inside of this hole… I'm tearing away from my soul… I, feel myself losing control… I'm living for nothing…**_

…

Ichigo shook his head.

'_Am I hearing things now?'_

However, as he pressed the 'stop' button on the player, the whispering disappeared, along with the cramp in his hand.

'_I must be going crazy…'_

He closed his eyes and dozed off. Inside, he couldn't help but feel anxious about tomorrow, when the vaizard would make him use some weird gadget as the start of his training.

'_The Hiyori Super… something.' _Even while dozing, he scowled. _'Damn, I forgot again…'_

* * *

The hollow was lying on the side of the building, several meters from Zangetsu's old pole, gazing at the dark clouds overhead. He gathered a bit of his reiatsu, twirling it around his fingers, then throwing it in the air.

He grinned as his newest creation fluttered its frail wings. The black butterfly flew near his face. As it landed on his open palm, the black butterfly with red tint edging its wings, slowly dissipated into nothingness. The hollow sighed.

'_**Ok, now I'm bored.' **_He looked around himself. _**'Should I call Zangetsu-san?'**_ He wondered. _**'Nah… Can't think of anything I'd like to talk about…'**_

He looked over to the edge of the skyscraper he was on.

'_**Now, there's an idea…'**_ He got up and walked over to the edge, poking his head over it.

'_**Wonder if there's a bottom to this thing….' **_The grin on his face grew even wider.

"**Bungee jumpin' without a bungee? Interestin'!"** With those words, the hollow jumped over the edge, laughing maniacally as the sideways skyscrapers flew passed him. Every time one of them flew by him, missing him by mere inches he would laugh louder, enjoying the thrill of the adrenaline rush.

…

…

Five hours later…

"…" was the train of thoughts for the hollow. **"…I'm so not havin' fun anymore…" **Even the possibility of decapitation by the passing skyscrapers was no longer providing entrainment.

The hollow continued falling, now in a parody of Auguste Rodin's statue, The Thinker. He tapped his chin with his fingers. _**'How do I get off this ride…?'**_ He knew he couldn't simply reach out and grab the ledges of passing skyscrapers, that is if he didn't want to have his arm torn off.

"**I think I see my stop down there…"**He needed to gulp down hard twice before he could breathe in from the realization. _**'This will hurt…like a bitch.' **_He spread his arms and legs to create more drag, in a futile attempt of deceleration. As seconds passed by, the hollow could see the upcoming skyscraper evermore filling his field of vision. In a flash, he could see another skyscraper flying by him. That one had the black flagpole the hollow knew all too well.

"**Interestin'… so this place actually loops in on itself… inte-"**he looked down, as his eyes widened in fear and surprise.

* * *

Back in the warehouse, Ichigo jolted awake from his sleep, with beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. As he sat back down, Ichigo held his head in hands, and listened to the thunderous pounding of his own heart.

'_Stupid falling dreams…'_

* * *

The hollow tried to pick himself up from the large crater.

"**Oh…Belly-flop…"** There was blood running down his face. As he got up to a seated position, he felt immense pain in his chest that seemed to escalate every time he would breathe in – a clear sign of a number of broken ribs. It seemed that he pretty much broke an arm and both of his legs.

'_**At least my skull's still in one piece.'**_ He thought to himself, sarcastically, trying to cheer up a bit.

He didn't know for how long he sat there, waiting for his body to recover enough from the shock for the high-speed regeneration to kick in. Once it actually started, the hollow gritted his teeth in annoyance. Healing in the sideways world always took longer than in the outside world.

Carefully examining his ribs with his uninjured hand, the hollow winced in pain from the bruising that now spread across most of his body.

'_**So… I'm mostly back in one piece.'**_ As he moved a bit, he felt a blinding pain coursing through his right leg – the one that now had the shape of a 'W'.

'_**Gruesome.'**_ But, despite the horrendous pain, the hollow felt pleased with himself.

'_**Another mystery solved!'**_ He now knew what lied over the edge. Another jolt of pain made him focus back on his current situation. He grabbed his broken leg, forcing the bones back to their original position. Sweat tinkled down his brow. _**'It's now or never.'**_

With a stomach-turning sound, the bones snapped back into place.

…

**"YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW****!"**

* * *

(Several hours later)

The hollow fell on his face again.

Immediately, he jumped back on his feet, starring hatefully at the pole that so defiantly refused to let him climb it.

'_**It can't be that hard, can it?'**_ he wondered. _**'Zangetsu never had any trouble with it…'**_ But calling that prick out, just to ask him something so stupid was out of the question.

'_**I just have to figure out how to do it before the main event.'**_ He mussed.

Theatricality. Another thing he picked up in his temporary, boredom-induced fit of madness.

"**There's no way that old goat is the only one who can stand on this thing!"** He grabbed the top of the pole. _**'Up we go!'**_ He jumped back on top. Positioning his feet on the tiny piece on the top of the pole, the hollow slowly tried to stand up. _**'Hehehe…'**_ in that one moment of smugness, he lost his balance. He waved his hand in an attempt to restore it.

The cold surface of the skyscraper readily met his face.

As he laid there in that awkward position, with one foot still on the pole, and his face rammed into the wall of the skyscraper, he grumbled and cursed, then tried to climb back on.

* * *

He slowly opened his eyes. Seeing the clouds that sailed vertically across the sky left Ichigo little doubt as to where he was. The one place he was avoiding ever since he returned from Soul Society – the world of his soul.

Despite the fact that it was all part of the plan, Ichigo cursed. Looking around himself, he tried to see where Zangetsu was.

"**Over here!"** Ichigo quickly turned to face the hollow, but was in no way ready for what he saw – standing on the top of Zangetsu's pole, the hollow was grinning triumphantly.

"**Long time no see… King." **Ichigo scowled at him.

Fully ignoring the fact that Ichigo didn't give a rat's ass for his feat of agility, the hollow leaped down and started to slowly walk towards him.

"**What's with that look King?"** The hollow started grinning – he was looking forward to this.

Ichigo looked past the hollow at the now vacant pole. He reached for the hilt of his zanpakutou.

"Where's old man Zangetsu? Tell me!"

The hollow raised his brow in wonder.

"**I don't get it?"** He pointed his finger at Ichigo. **"Ain't Zangetsu right there in your hands? Or could he be… " **Ichigo's eyes widened in shock, as he watched his bleached version pull out Zangetsu out of the black wrapping he carried on his back. **"…the here in mine?" **With a voice full of malice, he continued.** "Wanna know? The old goat is with me."**

Before Ichigo could react, the hollow charged at him.

"**Zangetsu… IS MINE!"**

Bringing up the blade, Ichigo blocked the attack and instantly slashed back, but hit nothing.

"Damn! Just tell me where Zangetsu is!"

The hollow lunged at him again, but Ichigo jumped out of the way, allowing the massive white cleaver to cut nothing but air. Truing to counterattack, Ichigo thrust his sword, hoping to impale his opponent. The hollow slid to the side, pushing the blunt side of the black cleaver away from his body.

"**Why don't you just shut it, and stop making me repeat myself?"** White reiatsu twirled around the tip of his sword. **"The old man belongs to me now!"** With a feral blow, he launched Ichigo slamming in the skyscraper bellow, shattering its walls. Holding his version of Zangetsu on his shoulders, the hollow frowned at the man he called King.

"**Ichigo… You should have known this from the very beginning. The old man and I, we are the same." **Giving Ichigo a condescending look, the hollow continued.** "We've always been the root of your power. I've always been a part of him… the two of us share the same body, and whenever the 'dominant' person changes, the outer appearance also changes. When one is dominated by 'life', one is flesh. When one is dominated by 'death', one becomes bones." **Seeing Ichigo was still a bit confused, he shrugged his shoulders**. "It's the same reasoning here. My powers expanded, and so the ruling power went to me. And this way, Zangetsu became a part of me instead. The more you try to use Zangetsu's power, the easier it is for me to control your soul!"**

Finally, Ichigo stood up.

"Gotcha." His grip tightened, as his reiatsu grew. "So all I have to do… Is beat the crap out of you, and Zangetsu will return, right?" Hearing the orange haired teen's words, the hollow grinned in amusement.

"**I thought it was obvious by now… That's impossible."**

"We'll see about that." As he raised his blade in front of him, the white wrappings coiled around his right arm. "LOOK AT MY SWORD AND SAY IT AGAIN!"

The hollow closed his eyes. _**'He never learns, does he?' **_he wondered in annoyance. As he opened his eyes, he could see confusion and disbelief reflected in Ichigo's eyes, as he moved the white cleaver into a mirror-like pose of Ichigo's.

"**I said…It's impossible!"**

…

Their thunderous roars filled the sideways world, as they shouted out the same word…

"BANKAI!"

The moment the two Tensa Zangetsu collided, the world was engulfed in a maelstrom of black and white.

* * *

Ichigo found himself on top of a hill. Looking around, trying to figure out where the hell he was, he noticed an unforgettable sight – beneath him, in the distance, as far as the eye could see, there were buildings of _Seireitei. Only one hill in the whole of Soul Society could provide such a view._

_The Sokyoku hill._

_"How the…?" Instantly, he felt the alarm bells firing up inside him, as pink petals floated by his face. From behind him, a clear voice spoke._

_"Chire, Senbonzakura." _Ichigo immediately shunpo-ed out of the way.

_"What the hell are you doing, Byakuya?" '__What the hell is he doing'__, he repeated to himself rhetorically. __'More importantly, what the hell am __I__ doing?'_

"Pathetic, Kurosaki Ichigo…" Byakuya took a step towards Ichigo, raising his zanpakutou in front of him, with tip pointing at the ground. "How low you have fallen… You are truly pathetic." He let go of the blade. "Bankai, Senbonzakura… Kageyoshi."

* * *

The hollow stared at his opponent, clearly confused by what was happening.

"**Ichigo?"** The shinigami substitute gave off no response. **"YO! DUMBASS!"**

Ichigo simply stood there, unmoving like a statue. _**'More like a zombie…'**_ the hollow commented in his mind, seeing a tiny drop of drool going down Ichigo's face.

"**Eh… Umm… King? Ya there?"** He waved his hands trying to get some response. _**'Did his brain overload and die?'**_ Resting the white blade on his shoulder he took a few steps closer – making sure he had enough space to dodge should this whole thing be some dirty trick.

Nothing happened.

"**Damn… And I was really looking forward to this too…"** He shrugged as he raised the white Tensa Zangetsu. With its tip, he aimed for Ichigo's heart.

"**So… umm… Goodbye." **

That was when his vision got blurry.

…

And almost like on a click of a switch, it returned.

The first thing that entered his field of vision was a shimmering katana inches from his right template. Ducking faster than one could say quack, the hollow dodged the blade, than slashed out with his zanpakutou.

The black haired girl with a braided pigtail and red, oval glasses leaped out of the way.

As he looked down to his right hand, he could have sworn his eyes popped out anime-style when he saw the black Tensa Zangetsu.

'_**More importantly, are those my feet?'**_ he wondered as he glanced further down. _**'Now that just ain't right…'**_ he mussed in confusion.

In a flash, the girl was in front of him again, slashing and stabbing at him. Somewhere between the dodges, the hollow considered asking whether she was trying to carve her name in his chest.

At one point, one of her attacks reached him, cutting deep into his left forearm.

The hollow started laughing maniacally, but immediately stopped, disgusted by the super high pitch of his own voice.

Just before he could indulge himself into self-pity and depression, and surrender himself to thoughts such as 'it was never meant to be', the girl returned with a series of furious jabs at his gut, instantly restoring his mood.

He slashed at her, aiming to split her skull in two, but she ducked beneath his blade. Just as he was to correct his strike and stab her through into the ground, his vision blurred.

…

As it cleared, he could see Ichigo still standing in front of him, though for reasons unknown to him, he was standing almost three times as far as he did when the hollow saw him last.

Quickly examining both his sword and feet, not to mention chest, the hollow sighed in relief, thankful they were back to normal. He even went as far as to whisper out a few words, just to check his voice.

'_**Well, that was disturbing…**_**'** He thought to himself. _**'The body must be going out of control in the real world…'**_ He looked at the still immobile teen shinigami in front of him.

"**Che… Killing defenseless Ichigo… Take two."**

In that instant the boy moved.

The hollow could feel his eye twitching. _**'Spoil my fun twice in the same day, will ya!' **_he gritted his teeth.

"**Imma gonna kill ya **_**twice**_**!" **he hissed through his teeth.

He lunged at him.

Ichigo blocked.

Black and white filled the air, once again.

* * *

Ichigo didn't know what hit him.

"**Come! Let's have some fun!"** The hollow taunted him, but Ichigo didn't take the bait.

"Shut up." He didn't take the bait at all. He was to busy trying to figure out what happened to him.

(Flashback)

He was falling from a cliff. The ground surrounding the Sokyoku hill grew larger at an alarming rate. Still, not as nearly as alarming as were the five swords that were screaming as they cut through the air. As they passed him, Ichigo barely managed not to get impaled on them.

'_Shit!'_ He coursed, as he saw Byakuya shunpo-ing to the ground beneath him.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya spoke, "those who lack the will to fight can never stop my blade. This fight is over."

With those words, his reiatsu skyrocketed, shattering the very earth beneath his feat. Faster than the eye can see, he was flying towards Ichigo, his deadly blade screaming for Ichigo's blood.

'_Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!'_ Ichigo mentally screamed, closing his eyes, as he waited for the inevitable.

…

However, the inevitable never came. Instead, he found himself staring at his inner hollow charging at him. In the last moment, he raised his blade in order to block the attack, charging a medium Getsuga to add to his swing's power.

Instantly, he felt grateful to whatever divinity was watching over him that time, as he saw the white Tensa Zangetsu erupt with a furious flow of white, red on its rims reiatsu, which took the form of a large white crescent moon.

Black and white filled the air, once again.

(End flashback)

'_Why did Byakuya appear back then? What the hell is going on here?'_

The hollow was looking at him with confusion. For some to Ichigo unknown reason, he seemed to be… quite irritated.

"**This isn't time to lose your focus, King."** He charged again, swooping from the air.

"I'm not!" He blocked the hollow's slash, then eased on the strength behind his block, allowing the hollow's momentum to push past him and carry the hollow further away from him.

As soon as the hollow hit the ground, he turned around to face Ichigo.

"**Bullshit. You were just staring off into space!"** The hollow replied with a grin.

"I wasn't, damn it!" He slashed through the air furiously with his zanpakutou. "Getsuga… TENSHOU!" Instantly, the black wave of destruction, shaped like a black crescent moon.

But the chalk-white teen was less than impressed. With a single swipe of his bare hand, he stopped the Getsuga, forcing it to split in two parts, each slicing deep into the sideways skyscraper behind him.

Before Ichigo could react, the hollow was already on top of him, pressing him down with his sword using his full weight and strength.

Ichigo felt his eyes widening, almost to the point of bulging, when the hollow removed one hand form the grip of his zanpakutou and placing it right below the tip, on the blunt side of the blade. He could hear as the hollow said two words, almost on the verge of whisper.

"**Getsuga Tenshou."**

A bubble of pure white destruction surrounded him, shredding through his body.

* * *

The hollow cursed his lack of planning. From the force of the blast, and the flash that ensued, the hollow couldn't see anything.

'_**If he defeats me because of this, I'm doing seppuku…'**_

His vision cleared, again, it seemed as if it happened with a push of a button.

He noticed that he was in the middle of a charge, with his blade raised high. His opponent, the tall man with short, cropped gray hair, seemed undaunted.

'_**Why does it look like everyone is underestimating me here?'**_ the hollow mussed. _**'And where did the girl go?'**_

"I'm Muguruma Kensei…" The hollow saw the man's small army knife, as it spun around Muguru-something's finger on a small ring attached to its guard "…And I'm going to crush you."

'_**A hotshot, eh? Let's see who crushes who first!'**_ But no matter how much he jabbed and slashed, the Mugu-who-ever-he-was kept on dodging every singe time. At one point, he even managed to slash the hollow's shoulder, but the high-speed regeneration kicked in immediately, sealing the wound.

As the hollow charged again, the man's tiny little knife started to glow white. Before he could even realize what was going on, the hollow felt unbelievable pain in his left shoulder.

A second later, it was gone, along with the man, the arena they fought in, the transparent orange box… everything disappeared. Instead, he found himself looking at Ichigo, who stood there glaring at him, with a huge gash running down his chest. As the hollow eyed his own blade, he saw quite a lot of blood dripping from it. A satisfied grin spread over his face.

It seemed that those fighting hallucinations – or what whatever they were – were over. Now, that only left…

Before Ichigo could even blink, the hollow appeared in front of him, his hand firmly gripping Ichigo's face.

'_Oh, shi-'_ the force behind the hollow's throw sent Ichigo crashing through a skyscraper behind him. Just as he manage to stand up, the hollow slashed him across the chest.

Ichigo fell to the ground.

'_Shit, shit… SHIT!'_ he cursed. _'Why the hell did I come this far? Shit! WHY DID I COME SO FAR!'_

Memories came to him… came to him, then passed. Lying in the pool of his own blood, he remembered.

(Flashback)

The large monster charged at him, its mouth gaping wide. The shier terror filled him up as his life flashed before his eyes. A scream tried to force its way out of his mouth, but his throat was just too dry…

Blood splattered everywhere.

'_Shinigami!'_ The girl stood before him, facing the monster, whose massive jaws now sunk into her flesh. Almost as a final stroke of defiance, her sword pressed into the monster's mask, cutting through its surface. In agony, the monster retreated with a scream. The girl collapsed to the ground.

"You… idiot…" She was lying on her face, her wounds bleeding intensely. "I already told you… Your power is no match for it… Did you possibly believe that it would all end one it devoured your soul?" She tried to push herself up, but collapsed back down, her body riddled in pain. Ichigo's face grimaced in pain.

"I'm sorry. I just-"

"Don't worry about it… is what I would like to say, but… I'm no longer able to fight…"

(End flashback)

'_I blamed myself because of that… At that moment, I gave in to despair… But what she said next brought me out of it… That was when she changed my life… forever.'_

(Flashback)

"…Do you want to save your family…?" With those words, she managed to pull herself up enough to lean back on the wall behind her.

"Is there a way? Tell me, shinigami!" She smiled at him faintly. There was no way for him to know… exactly how much this would cost her…

"Only one." She picked up her sword, pointing it at Ichigo. "You must become… a shinigami."

(End flashback)

'_She told me to stab it in my heart… I hesitated, at first. But looking at her, back then… She was in pain… close to dying…I couldn't deny… the resolve behind those eyes.'_ Despite the agony he was in, he felt his lips twitch upwards.

His fist clenched.

* * *

"**Okay, time to put you out of your misery, King."** But right before he could land the killing blow, the hollow felt a shift in Ichigo's reiatsu. The orange haired teen's hand went for the black sword. **"No you don't!"** The hollow jumped at him, ready to stab him through. Ichigo's fingers wrapped themselves around the blade's hilt.

It seemed as if the time slowed down.

…

"Getsuga Tenshou."

The hollow could feel his eyes going wide as a bubble of pure black destruction obliterated everything.

'_**If I moved out of the way just a second later…'**_ the hollow thought to himself, gasping for air, as he stared in disbelief at his left hand, that now uselessly slumped along the side of his body, broken, burned and coated in blood. _**'Impossible!'**_ He watched as Ichigo stood up. _**'His wounds aren't bleeding anymore…But that's impossible! There's no way he had that much power left! What's with his eyes, is he…?'**_

As Ichigo looked his hollow straight in the eyes, his own went alight, burning with pale blue reiatsu.

"Sorry you had to wait for me, hollow. Let's finish this.'

* * *

Authors notes: A cliffy! I think I finally got a hang of it! (Hope you aren't shaking your head thinking, _"No, no he didn't."_ lol)

Hope you liked everyone's favorite nutcase's pastime.

A note on the hollow's claim of ownership over Zangetsu – that's what one of the things he said in the manga.

I always wondered what stopped him from gutting Ichigo while he was spacing out. My theory was that the hollow did the same.

Translation section:

Reiatsu - spiritual pressure

Chire - scatter

Shunpo - flash step

Well, anyways, hope I see you again next time!

_~KuroiTori-sama_

_PS: Your reviews are very important. And the button is conveniently right below. Click it. Click it. Click it. _

_PPS: Zommari Rureaux got his eye on you and is blabbing on about love. For the sake of all that is pure – review! (It's the only way to shut him up… XD)_


	5. Chapter 5: Homecoming, part 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

A/N: Huge thanks to Zaralann and for reviewing.

O-O-O

Chapter five – Homecoming, part one

O-O-O

_Previously on "Choose your fate"_

_As Ichigo looked his hollow straight in the eyes, his own went alight, burning with pale blue reiatsu._

"_Sorry you had to wait for me, hollow. Let's finish this."_

O-O-O

The hollow charged at him, with a roar that dwarfed even the demons of Jigoku.

Ichigo met his opponent's blade readily, holding Tensa Zangetsu firmly with both hands, pushing the hollow's zanpakutou to the ground. Quickly overpowering the hollow, who could only use one hand, Ichigo pushed forward, ramming his right shoulder into the hollow's wounded and bleeding left arm.

The hollow let out an agonizing scream, then jumped back, careful that his left shoulder pointed away from Ichigo at all times.

'_**Shit! What with those eyes, damn it!' **_He tried using his sonido to appear in front of Ichigo, inside his guard. The moment he succeeded, he thrust his blade into the teen's right shoulder.

Ichigo screamed, immediately kicking the hollow to push him back. The black Tensa Zangetsu fell from his grip, its metal blade clanging off the surface of the skyscraper beneath them.

"**Gotcha!"** The hollow yelled triumphantly while swinging down his sword.

Ichigo rolled out of the way. The moment he got back on his feet, he tackled down the hollow, rugby style. As they fell to the ground, the white blade flew threw air, landing several meters from the two fighters.

"**DAMN YOU!"** The hollow shouted with a voice full of malice and hate. As they rolled on the wall of the sideways skyscraper, the hollow managed to get the upper hand and pin Ichigo to the ground. **"WHY MUST YOU STAND BETWEEN ME AND EVERYTHING THAT I WANT!"**

"TO HELL WITH YOU!" Ichigo cursed back. "I'll protect them… EVERY LAST ONE OF MY PRECIOUS FRIENDS AND FAMILY! I'LL KEEP THEM SAFE EVEN IF IT COSTS ME EVERYTHING!"

The hollow smashed him in the face with his elbow. In retaliation, Ichigo sunk his teeth into the hollow's neck. The hollow screamed.

Ichigo kicked him in the groin.

…

**"…!"**

…

They were both lying on their backs, several minutes later, too exhausted to move.

"**Damn… you… This ain't finished… yet…"** With the corner of his eye, the hollow saw Ichigo trying to crawl towards his zanpakutou.

'_**Shit… Oh, no you don't…'**_ He turned on his stomach and started crawling.

In exactly the same moment, each grabbed their respective zanpakutou. As they shakily rose to their feet, they glared each other venomously.

"All or nothing…" Ichigo whispered.

"**All or nothing…"** The hollow replied.

The tips of their blades proudly soared towards the sky, as if daring the gods above to interfere, should they dare. Pouring every last atom of strength and reiatsu into their swords, they struck.

…

"GETSUGA…"

"…**TENSHOU!"**

O-O-O

Seconds passed, and the hollow was still forcing his reiatsu into the massive white wall of pure destructive power. He never even dreamed that he could pull of something so gigantic. But to think…

To think that Ichigo could force it to stop dead in its tracks halfway through the attack was just… hilarious… unthinkable even.

In the center of the white mass, a single black dot appeared. From it, black web-like creaks spread.

'_**He… he's tearing through!'**_ Like the shattering of glass, the immeasurable wall of white reiatsu exploded into pieces, as Ichigo flew through it, sword raised high.

The hollow took a step back. In his mind, a worm of doubt began drilling its way through his resolve – could it be that he was wrong?

'_**HE'S A MONSTER! I can't…!'**_ The hollow took another step back, his eyes wide with sheer, unsuppressed, animalistic fear.

…

Blood splattered everywhere, as they stood there, next to one another, their faces mere inches apart. As they looked into each other's eyes, they saw their own confusion reflected back at them.

Black reiatsu, in the form a thick mist, rose up, surrounding them… drowning them.

O-O-O

Hirako walked over to the orange haired boy, who now lay on the ground, bleeding and utterly exhausted. He had numerous cuts, bruises and burns all over his body

"Hachi." The large man behind him silently stepped closer. "Treat his wounds."

"Hai…"

Hirako continued to examine the extensive damage the teen's body sustained. His left hand was in worst condition, it bore cuts and was burnt across most of its surface. The hollow mask was still on his face.

The boy moved, slightly.

"How do you feel… Ichigo?"

Still having his masked face buried in the dirt, the boy muttered out. "Not bad, actually…" He then reached up with his hand. Where his fingers touched it, the mask cracked. The boy pulled it off, looking into its eye sockets apologetically.

"Sorry…" He whispered out, too faintly for anyone in particular to hear. _'It looks like… __**I'll be in control from now, Ichigo…'**_

He forced himself to stand up. _**'What is this weight on my face…?'**_ The hollow wondered. Unconsciously, he touched his face, feeling only soft skin. But still, there was something…

As he stood up, he broke through the bright orange healing barrier that surrounded him, earning him a scornful look from Hachigen.

"Sorry 'bout that." Inwardly, he frowned. It seemed that every time he would speak through that thing, his voice would transform into Ichigo's. _**'Great… What else can go wrong?'**_ As if fate heard him, he felt the energy that enveloped his face begin to fade.

'_**Shit, I gotta get out of here!'**_ Before he could even get to the stairs that led outside of the basement, he felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you are going?" Muguruma Kensei asked him, making the hollow in disguise gulp down in fear.

"Um, nowhere… Just home, I guess."

"Not so fast. First we must see for how long you can maintain your hollow transformation."

The teen stared at him, stupidly.

"My what?"

"He means how long you can wear that mask before it breaks, baldy!" Hiyori intervened.

'_**That's it? Che… this will be easier then I thought.'**_

"Okay, then let's try it out!" Immediately, he lowered his center of gravity and unsheathed his blade. _**'Oh, that's just great… It's black. Damn.'**_ Remembering how the girl from before raised her hand before her face to summon the mask, the hollow decided to mimic her.

'_**Um… Okay… Now what?'**_ He looked at Hiyori, who by now was already wearing her own mask. _**'Here goes nothing…'**_ As soon as he started pumping his own reiatsu over his face, the white bony mask with red, fang-like curved stripes began growing out of the edges of his face – from all directions at the same time, closing up above the nose.

'_**Ha!' **_No sooner had he rejoiced, when a small protrusion of the mask started to grow down his neck. _**'Oh, shit no!' **_Not wanting the vaizards to slice him up into sushi, he immediately cut off that little bit of extra power. The small protrusion cracked and disappeared. The hollow sighed. _**'Pheeew… this is tougher than I thought… Che, now let's get this over with… This weight on my face is tiring me out…'**_ But with his hollow mask now firmly on his face, the tiring ceased.

O-O-O

The eight vaizards stared at him in disbelief. Each and every one of them was thinking of the same thing.

'_Seven hours without even breaking sweat! What the hell is this guy!'_

Finally noticing that they may start suspecting him to be the Devil himself any moment now, the hollow severed the connection to his own reiatsu. Immediately, the mask cracked along the edges, shattering in the presence of that strange reiatsu that covered his human face.

A second later, Love kicked him in the gut, sending the hollow flying across the underground training field. As the hollow fell to the ground, he discovered another interesting thing about his new spirit body – right in the center of his chest, concealed by the black shihakushou and the bandage wrappings beneath it, a fist-sized hole went through his chest. It was the mark of what he was, even if he could suppress the mask, the blackness of his sclera, even revert the color of his eyes back to brown, that hole was something that would stay with him for life.

The hollow inwardly groaned in annoyance. Being used to a mostly human body – color mismatching ignored – he found it increasingly annoying to have the traits of a hollow's appearance, now that he was finally free. And that lead him to another thing he had noticed during his spars with the vaizards – despite the immense power the vaizards commanded, they were weak. Even if they vastly outmatched him greatly at the moment, their power was final, meaning that no matter what, they would never grow stronger than they were at that moment. Sure, they may improve on certain skills as shinigami, like kidou or swordsmanship, but the really important stuff such as the upper limit of their reiatsu would not improve.

Love walked up to him, offering him a hand in getting up. Even though the hollow would like nothing more than to slap the vaizard's hand away, he liked not dieing more. Forcing on a small smile, he reached up for the offered hand.

But inwardly he was smirking at his newfound knowledge of the vaizard's powers.

'_**One can't fight alongside another, while not thrusting his ally.' **_But the vaizard were going further than that. They weren't just mistrustful of their inner hollows – they stole the powers of the hollows within them. _**'A blade that has no respect for its wielder will eventually find a way to harm its master… Wait, did I just sound like Zangetsu for a sec?'**_

He followed Love to a large rectangular table near the end of the underground training field. On it, laid out were tons of meat, bread and a strange bubbling beverage that made the hollow feel reluctant it drinking it.

He gazed at his inner-self, observing the sideways world in ruin.

Empty, that's what it was.

'_**Wonder where Ichigo is?'**_ Not being able to come up with any ideas, the hollow shrugged, then entered his human body. He felt a bit of… could it be shame? The hollow suppressed the feeling.

After all – the food on the table was calling him.

And for the first time in his life, the hollow truly enjoyed himself.

O-O-O

It was dark.

That was all Ichigo could see and feel. It felt as if he was underwater, with the weight of the whole ocean resting on top of him. As he tried to move, he realized that he was chained to the ground. Straps of huge chains bound his hands and feet, they went over his chest, his knees and elbows… Even his neck was chained down.

He struggled to move, but every time he pulled against the chains, they seemed to pull back. He tried to scream out, but the chain across his neck suddenly tightened, suffocating him.

He blacked out.

…

When he finally opened his eyes, it was dark again.

O-O-O

"Where do you think you're going, baldy?" The hollow abruptly turned around, as a chill went down his spine. A single thought flashed in his mind. _**'Did they figure me out?'**_ He barely stopped his hand form reaching up for his zanpakutou.

"You need more training!"

The hollow blinked in confusion. _**'A runt that can't hold her hollowfication for more than six minutes tells me that? Che!'**_

"What, seven hours not enough for you? I'm out of here." Before the girl, or any of the vaizards could object, the hollow quickly added. "I want to check up on my family."

Hirako gave him an awkward look, but simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine, fine… just make sure you're back by tomorrow, got that?"

"Sure, I'll be here."

…

Five hours later, the hollow crawled into a hole close to the road that leads to Karakura, several kilometers from the city itself. With his hollow form fully restored, he pulled himself into a fetal position, and using a bunch of moss as a bed, he fell asleep.

Seconds later, he found himself inside of his inner world, now fully restored from the cataclysmic battle. The only real difference was that in the world where Ichigo was king there was day, and here there was night, with a blood-red, crescent moon. Whenever the hollow looked to that moon, he felt a strong attraction to it, as if it was calling for him. Instinctively, he knew.

It was the moon of Hueco Mundo.

'_**Where's the old man?**_' He wondered. Looking into a sheet of glass to see his reflection, the hollow sighed in relief. He was back to his old, bleached body. _**'At least here I am myself…' **_He looked towards the place where he defeated Ichigo, feeling remorse and guilt – that was not the way he intended to beat him. Truth be told, the hollow knew well that he had won through shier luck alone. If only Ichigo didn't lose himself to his rage he would have been the one to stand triumphant.

He sighed, then grinned.

"**Can't mourn forever, right?" **He scratched the back of his head. _**'Now, if only I could figure out what I did to maintain my human form back then… Oh, I give up!'**_ lying down on the side of the skyscraper, the hollow closed his eyes. _**'I'll worry 'bout this in the mornin'…'**_

…

…

As he slept, the bone-like exoskeleton that covered his skin in the real world began to crack and fall of, leaving behind a sleeping teen with a hollow's mask on his face. Beneath it, however, another mask seemed to be shaping itself, almost like a second layer, completely invisible to the naked eye. It pushed outwards, then retreated before the hollow reiatsu. As its force weakened, the hollowfication took place once again.

The humanoid lizard slept through it all, never realizing what occurred.

O-O-O

He was staring in the dark.

Or could it bee that his eyes were closed?

Ichigo tried blinking.

'_I swear, it just got darker'_ he thought to himself. He tried pulling against the chains that bound him. Little by little, he could feel…

'_Yes!' _He pulled harder. _'I'm doing it!'_

The chains pulled him back, but he resisted.

'_I'm not going down without a fight!'_ He pulled with all his might – he could feel the chains around his right hand loosening, ever so slightly.

'_Just a bit more… just a little… bit more…'_ He could hear the metal's screaming under the strain, it's surface cracking.

'_It's breaking!'_ He yanked them with the last atoms of his strength.

…

All the sudden, they tightened. Without a warning, all the damage he had done to the chains disappeared, as they cut into his skin, pinning him to the ground.

Ichigo tried to scream, but was choked.

…

Tears of despair over his helplessness rolled down his cheeks. The chains tightened further.

Ichigo lost consciousness.

O-O-O

It was at the same time, when Ichigo came so close to breaking free, that the hollow woke up.

Inspecting his fully hollowfied body, he frowned behind his mask.

'_**Now, how did I do that thing the last time?'**_He wondered, scratching the back of his head. He stopped the scratching immediately, as he felt the claws on his hollowfied hand pierce his skin.

'_**Ouch… Okay~ I just gotta focus, right?'**_ He placed his fingers on his templates – this time paying attention to the claws – from his throat emanated a screeching, humming noise that resembled the sound of fingernails on a blackboard.

Invisible beneath the mask, his frown deepened, as sweat poured down his neck.

"**Gaaaarrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaahhhhh!" **he stopped, blinking and staring into space.

'_**I think my brain just got dislocated.'**_ He tried to remember any detail that might help him. He wasn't stupid after all – partially insane, true, and the 'partial' part was still questionable – but he wasn't stupid.

'_**Now, what did it taste like?'**_ he tapped his forehead with his finger, than raised it up in the air. _**'I got it! It's… strawberry flavor…?'**_ His head slumped down to his chest, as he sat down. _**'Should have figured… It was him…'**_ No matter how many hours had passed, he still couldn't completely get rid of the pain his shame had caused him. _**'To win like that…'**_

"**DAAAAMN!" **He roared furiously, not caring that he might be heard or detected by the shinigami. _**'I will find him… I will fight him… Then, I'LL KILL HIM!'**_

…

But, first thing's first.

He placed his hand in front of his face. _**'If the Vaizards can do it, so can I.'**_ He pulled on Ichigo's reiatsu. At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, he could feel energy gathering between his face and his hand. As it intensified, his hand began to glow with whitish-blue reiatsu. He slowly pulled down his face in a ripping fashion.

Where the hand went over the mask, it shattered, its shards falling towards the ground. Once he was done, in place of the hollow, there stood an orange haired teen. His only giveaways were the hole in his chest, which he promptly covered up with bandages – courtesy of his zanpakutou's extendable cloth wrapping. His other giveaway was somewhat easier to hide – it was the blackness of his sclera and the yellowness of his iris.

With the power of Ichigo's reiatsu, the hollow could maintain his sclera white, and as far as the yellowness was concerned, the same reiatsu that colored his sclera white, also added hints of brown to his iris. Though not enough to completely change the color, those hints would most likely fool anyone who didn't know what to look for when looking him in the eyes.

The hollow touched his face. Like before, the only thing that met his fingers was soft human skin. He frowned, as he could feel a strong headache. Worryingly, it increased dramatically whenever he pulled out more of his shinigami powers.

He decreased it, than tried feeling it again. Though faint, it was still there, emanating its silent fury, invisible to the naked eye.

The mask of the shinigami.

…

As he climbed out of his hole, he could see the passing cars.

'_**Wonder what time it is?'**_ he walked in front of an incoming car. _**'Oh, wait… isn't this a bad thing?'**_ Before he could jump out of the way, the car past clean through him, not scathing him at all.

'_**Oh, that's right!'**_ He slapped himself. _**"I dumped Ichigo's – no, **_**my**_** body into that hole…"**_

He went back to the hole, entering inside his body. As he got out, he walked in the direction of the city, silently whistling to the only song he ever heard, as he remembered the words…

…

_**What would it be like to live a day in your life… I want to know… Living for nothing…**_

…

O-O-O

He was jumping from one skyscraper to another, looking everywhere, trying to find some clue as to where his old king has gone. He leaped down one of the large skyscraper, falling for two full minutes before landing.

The world was barren and empty… under the light of the red moon.

The hollow cursed aloud.

"**He's a pain in the ass even when he isn't here! I've been at this for two hours… I'm almost home." **_**'Home - now, there's a concept that'll take some getting used to…'**_he thought. Truth be said, he wasn't anywhere nearer to home than he was two hours ago, but he wanted to get to Ichigo as soon as possible, so that he could get on with his life – therefore, he hid inside of a dumpster close to his house before entering his inner world.

He inhaled sharply.

"**YO, MORON! WHERE ARE YOU?"** He shouted out. Hearing no response, he unsheathed Zangetsu and started to spin it, dishearteningly. Like a child that was denied it's favorite toy, he thrashed with his zanpakutou, slicing deep into the skyscraper beneath him.

His face twisted in a grimace of rage.

"**GETSUGA TENSHOU!"**

The white clever erupted with black reiatsu, as the massive Getsuga cut through both the skyscraper the hollow was standing on and the three beneath him.

The hollow sighed, as he fell on his butt. _**'This is **_**not**_** working…'**_

Somewhere far in front of him, like looking through heat haze, he could see a shear cliff, rising as far as the eye can see. _**'What the he- Oh, that's right, that's the surface of this city…' **_He stared at it with an empty gaze, while his mind processed the idea that just came to him. He slapped himself.

"**OK. I. Am. Such. An. Idiot!"** With a leap, he was back on his feet, his vigor returned. He started to sprint down towards the streets at the bottom of the skyscraper, his sword already on his back.

'_**The sewers!' **_

O-O-O

Light.

Somewhere to the left.

Ichigo could see it – the sweet, sweet streak of beautiful crimson luminescence. He pulled against the chains that bound him.

As the sudden, like opening the floodgates, the faint light burst into the room.

After several seconds, Ichigo's sight recovered enough for him to see, even though there were a few spots still hovering in the air.

'_How can something so beautiful be so revolting…' _he thought as he identified the source of light to be a red sphere of swirling reiatsu – a Cero.

"What do you want?" Ichigo croaked.

"**Shut up!" **The hollow ordered. **"I'm gonna kill ya!" **He unsheathed his blade, holding the cleaver above Ichigo, with its tip pointing down.

"Want it asshole? Knock yourself out."

The hollow's grin immediately replaced by a grimace of rage.

Ichigo closed his eyes.

The blade came down.

Down and up.

Its tip ripping deep into the ground with every strike.

O-O-O

A/N: Okay, before you hire assassins to come for my head, let me explain my theories upon which I based everything in this chapter.

FIRST – I didn't incorporate Ichigo's vision of Zaraki nor the hollow destroying the black Tensa Zangetsu, because both of those events lead Ichigo to gain the understanding and revival of his fighting instincts which was directly linked to his victory over his hollow.

SECOND – The shinigamification of Ichigo's inner hollow. I think I made it pretty logical. Also let me take the chance to explain why the hollow was suffering from headaches. They are a side effect to the shinigamification – where the hollowfication of the vaizard is physically tiring, the shinigamificaiton, which is its opposite, tires out its user mentally.

THIRD – Why did the shinigamification manifest itself without the hollow doing it? The first time was because he basically didn't take it off once he got it after his victory over Ichigo. The second time was because he was subconsciously wishing for it and at the same time, Ichigo was showing increased activity (while trying to break free).

FOURTH – Sewers. What? It could happen, right? Besides, I had to put him somewhere out of sight.

…

Now, next chapter, the new Kurosaki comes home! Karakura city will never be the same!

Also, what ever happened to Ichigo? (That's for me to know and you to find out in next chapter – _"Homecoming, chapter two"_!)

One final note, I would like to change the summary of this story into something better (to replace the crappy summary I have right now). If anyone thinks he or she can help – please do! I would very much appreciate it. You can send me your idea via PM or put them in your review.

~KuroiTroi-sama

_PS: Your reviews are very important. And the button is conveniently right below. Click it. Click it. Click it. _

_PPS: I'm out of sociopathic monsters at the moment. Please review anyway. ^_^'_


	6. Chapter 6: Homecoming, part 2

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

A/N: Huge thanks to Zaralann for reviewing.

WARNING: ONE HOLLOW WAS HARMED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS CHAPTER.

O-O-O

Chapter five – Homecoming, part two

O-O-O

_Previously on "Choose your fate"_

_Ichigo closed his eyes._

_The blade came down._

_Down and up._

_Its tip ripping deep into the ground with every strike._

O-O-O

He didn't now how for how long he was down there, lying on the ground, breathing heavily, not able to fully comprehend what just happened to him.

With his eyes open wide, Ichigo stared off into the darkness.

_(Flashback)_

His eyes opened, as the stabbing stopped.

Surprised, he realized that all of the stabs missed.

"**Get up."** The hollow's cold voice ordered. The cero that illuminated the cell was now snuffed out and they were in the pitch darkness.

"Why?"

"**Shut up. I missed. My hand moved on its own."**

"Why!" Ichigo didn't give up. He tried standing up. The chains slid off of him – they were cut through. As he stood up, a cold hand pushed him away violently.

"**You're too close."**

"What's gotten into you? This is nothing like you."

Instantly, he could feel the giant cleaver piercing his body by its full length. He slumped over the hollow.

'_Yea, that's more like you…'_ Before he blacked out, he heard the hollow's echoing voice.

"**Heal. You should be able to do that. Survive this place." **The hollow said. **"Find your way out. Right now, you disgust me." **

Ichigo yelped when the hollow threw him to the ground. He could hear footsteps moving away from him. The door slammed behind him.

Through the muffling of the door, Ichigo could hear as the hollow shouted to him.

"**Don't forget! This is my world now!"**

(End flashback)

'_Sometimes…' _He trailed off.

'_What the hell was going through his head…?'_ He coughed blood. _'Why am I not dead?'_

O-O-O

As the orange haired teen walked into his home, he noticed that it was empty. The clock on the wall showed 10am.

'_**Where is everyone?'**_ The hollow wondered.

"Oh, well…" He quickly ran up the stairs and entered his room. _**'Why did I come here again?'**_ He thought to himself, as he inspected the place. _**'Must've been some leftover instinct from when I was human…'**_ The teen concluded. He pulled out everything he had in his pockets, throwing the contents on his bed. The hollow than turned around and promptly exited the room.

Once he was back downstairs, he walked into the kitchen – or at least he thought it was a kitchen – and gazed at the strange metal box-like thing. He carefully approached it, placing his hand on it. He quickly pulled back, felling the cold.

'_**What the… Oh, stupid human memories, not working when I want them…'**_ he cursed inwardly. But a second later, he touched it again, when his curiosity got the better of him. Then he saw the small handle.

"Che!" He grabbed it and pulled the box open. "Now I remember! It's a refriger-…" he trailed off staring at… "MEAT!" He shouted cheerfully, like a five-year old kid, grabbing the thick slice of ham, ripping off huge chunks of it with every bite.

'_**Oh, hell! This is good!'**_ He realized in surprise. _**'Much better then what the vaizards gave me!'**_

He was so caught into it, that he completely failed to hear someone enter.

"Hellooooooooo! IIICHIGOOO!" As he was about to make an attempt to tackle down his son, Isshin cringed, as his face turned green.

"What have you done to yourself, my poor, disturbingly unhygienic son?"

The hollow gave him his dumbstruck look, with the half-eaten slice of ham still dangling from his mouth. Slowly raising his hand, he pushed the meat slice into his mouth with his finger, barely bothering to chew, as if he was afraid that this strange, screaming man would try to take it away from him.

"BAAAATHTIMEEEE!" Isshin yelled out, jumping his son. Half way through his maneuver, he whipped out a clothespin and put it on his nose. Before the hollow could break Isshin's considerable grip, he realized that beardo already pulled his arm behind his back – he was, in lack of a better term, thoroughly screwed, his hollow instincts told him.

He was half dragged, half carried up the stairs – all the way to the bathroom. Once Isshin opened the door, he tossed the teen headfirst inside.

"And don't come out 'til you smell like fresh-cut spring flowers!" He slammed the door closed.

Before the hollow could open it and attempt escape from this madhouse, the lock snapped – He was trapped.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" He wondered, as he held a showerhead in his left, and scratching the back of his head with his right, puzzled by his predicament.

"To hell with this, I'm tearing down the door!" He went for his pocket.

A sweat drop rolled down his face.

The shinigami badge was still on his bed.

O-O-O

A lot sooner than he ever would have believed, the hollow found himself trudging through the sewers of his inner world – well, they weren't actually sewers in a literal sense, but rather just a maze of tunnels that went under/to the side of the sideways city, depending on the viewpoint. There, even the solidness of the walls as deceptive – they appeared as if they were concrete, where in fact they were liquid. In much, they reminded hollow of the few glances he got through Ichigo's eyes at the walls of the Dangai.

'_**I don't know 'bout the Dangai, but… I ain't touching that stuff any time soon… The last time I did…'**_The hollow shuddered at the thought. He had to swim through that foul liquid for god knows how long before he got out.

As he continued to walk in the general direction of his target – and by general direction, he meant that it was not behind him, the bleached teen heard the sounds of battle. As he snuck up behind one of the many corners, he poked his head out to see what was going on – and nearly ended decapitated by a small Getsuga that flew his way.

'_**Wow!'**_ He pulled back in the last second. As he carefully looked behind the corner again, he could see Ichigo locked in battle with some bald man with a spear for a weapon.

'_**So… They do attack…**__** his memories, that is.'**_

It was at that very moment that Ichigo managed to land a powerful blow to the bald figure, essentially, cutting through him. The figure disappeared before it hit the ground.

Ichigo stabbed the ground, leaning on the large blade, panting.

The hollow observed him, still too curious to immediately approach Ichigo. He felt some sort of satisfaction in the knowledge that his theory was on the spot.

'_**The memories of past battles… here they come alive… But**__**, they've always been running away from me… Guess they weren't my battles to begin with.'**_ He theorized. He waited for other memories to emerge.

Nothing happened.

He waited some more.

Nothing.

Finally losing his patience, the hollow stepped out, opening his mouth to ask his question.

'_**Wait, what was I gonna ask him again**__**…? Oh, yea!'**_

"What the hell do you want?" Ichigo said dryly, walking away.

"**Where do you think you're going? I have to ask you something!"** Ichigo looked over his shoulder.

"Shove it where the sun don't shine!" The hollow looked at him blankly.

'_**How is going to Hueco Mundo gonna help me?'**_ It took a second for the hollow's old memories of the living world to kick in, from the time when he was still human.

"**Wait! That was an insult, you asshole! What's with you and that mood? It's not like this**…**"** he pointed at the hallway they were in,** "… was the worst that could happe-… oh, wait, yes it was."** The hollow cracked a smile.

Ichigo's glare spelled murder.

"**Hey, I ain't here to fight. Besides, how can you answer any of my questions when you're unconscious?" **

"You're not happy you took away my life? You want more? Get out of my sight."

The hollow snapped his fingers.

"**That's it! I got it!" **The hollow grinned wickedly.** "How about a trade? You give me answers; I give you your five senses back? You'll be able to see everything I see, hear everything I hear, taste every- ah, you get the picture." **

Ichigo didn't lower his guard.

"What do you want to know?"

"**Che! I'll show you."** Immediately, Ichigo's vision slightly blurred. Then he found himself staring at the one thing he definitely didn't expect. With a dumbstruck look in his eyes, he raised his glance towards the hollow, looked down on the showerhead in his/hollow's hand, than back at the hollow again.

"You have GOT to be kidding me."

O-O-O

Half an hour later, Isshin finally unlocked the door, promptly receiving a fist to the face before he could even look inside, throwing him into the hallway wall behind him.

"Brought you… some… clean clothes…" Isshin managed to mutter out through his hand, which was on his face, holding his nose, which was bleeding. By the time he looked up, his son had already grabbed the clothes and disappeared back into the bathroom.

A minute later, he was out, wearing his clean school uniform. Before he could even say a thing, he caught his schoolbag that his father thrown to him.

"What's thi-i-IIIIIIIIIS!" The hollow screamed, as Isshin grabbed him and carried him outside.

Once they got out, Isshin opened the door of the cab and threw his teenage son headfirst inside, slamming the door behind him.

"To school!" he shouted towards the cab driver, tossing the fare money through the window. "Drive, drive!" He yelled.

The cab driver immediately stomped down on the gas pedal.

The hollow could only stare through the window at the shrinking figure of his father with a dumbstruck gaze.

'_**How the hell did I get myself into this mess…?"**_

O-O-O

It was already nearing noon when the teen hollow in disguise walked out for the lunch break. But, despite his craving for meaty goodness, the hollow went through the nearby shops looking for something completely different.

Finally, after over twenty minutes of looking, he found what he was looking for – a cosmetics shop.

As he walked inside, he was greeted by a plump of a man, the salesmen and owner of the shop.

"Welcome, welcome! How may I be of service to you, young man?" The man said.

The hollow walked pass him, going straight to the shelves. He quickly saw the item he was interested in. He grabbed the bottle, than tossed it to the salesmen.

"A fine choice, might I say. You are an excellent-" The hollow interrupted him.

"Just give me the bill already."

"Yes young sir, the customer is always right, as I always say~!" The hollow groaned inwardly at the man's attitude. The hollow paid him.

'_**For pity sake, someone shut him up…'**_What snapped him from his mussing was a small revelation.

"Hey, ol' man. You wouldn't happen to have a mirror I can use?"

"Yes, yes, right this way, young sir." The man said, pointing towards the small employee's bathroom. "Of course, there is a small fee involved…" The shop owner's eyes bulged when the teen shoved a 20-dollar bill into his hands.

"Will this cover for it?"

""Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes! Yes, it will, more than kind young gentleman! Right this way, right this way… If you need anything else, just call me!" He practically pushed the teen into the smelly bathroom and closed the door behind him.

As the hollow walked up to the mirror, he thought back to how he got the money…

_(Flashback)_

"Hey kid, come over 'ere for a sec!" The guy with a Mohawk hairdo said. As the hollow walked over to him, he noticed that both the guy with the Mohawk hairdo and the rest of his entourage of three were covered in tattoos and piercings.

"Yo." He told them.

"Yo, kid, wanna feel good?"

The hollow squinted at them.

"Check this out kid." The Mohawk wearing guy said. "If you try this, it'll feel like heaven!" He took a step forward to the teen, not suspecting anything. The moment he pointed the syringe at the hollow however, he was in for it. The moment he did it, the hollow grabbed his hand, twisting it. The thug dropped the syringe, yelling out in pain. Twisting his hand even more, the hollow heard the satisfying sound of bones breaking. He made a step forward, tossing the screaming asshole away from him. The other three screamed in rage, as the hollow took another step towards them, stepping on the syringe, shattering it under his weight.

…

Fifteen seconds later, all four of them were laying on the ground, with various degrees of injuries. Some muttering curses, others cried in pain.

The hollow took the leader's wallet and pulled out the 20-dollar bill, which was all the money that was inside it.

As he tucked his prize in his pocked, he glanced at the thugs. He scoffed, then chuckled.

"Don't mess with the bad guy…"

_(End flashback)_

As he stood in front of the dirty sink and a greasy mirror, the hollow pulled out the bottle he just bought.

He bent forward, and sprayed its contents on his head.

O-O-O

_(3pm, after school)_

Tatsuki was staring at her childhood friend, lost for words. Finally, not being able to ignore it anymore, she walked up to him.

"Yo. How's it been, Shiro-kun"

The hollow spun around to face her.

"What did ya call me?"

"S-h-i-r-o… Shiro-kun." She said. "That's what the new look's for, right?" She ruffled his white hair.

That right – white.

The newly named hollow slapped off her hand.

"Beat it kid… Little boys should go play over there. " He pointed to nowhere specific.

Tatsuki gritted her teeth, as her eye muscle began to twitch uncontrollably.

"In case you haven't noticed, Ichigo" she hissed out his name through her teeth, "I'm a girl!"

The hollow tilted his head.

Tatsuki's face turned red, as she realized what he was staring at.

"Are you sure 'bout that? Cuz, you're flat as a board." Everyone around them took a step back.

"Y-Y-You-u-u…!" She was lost for words, completely stunned by what she just heard.

"Oh, wait!" The hollow took a step back, then leaned slightly forward, while scratching his chin, like he was deep in thought. "Wait! Now that I look at it-"

…

**WHAM!**

…

The hollow flew at least three meters through air, before landing face-first on concrete. He tried to get up, but quickly fell back down. The ringing in his ears was insufferable. It took him a few moments to realize what had transpired.

She kicked him in the head.

"ICHIGO, YOU RETARDED BASTARD!" She yelled at him, with her clenched fist raised in front of her face. "JUST BECAUSE YOU CHANGED YOUR HAIR COLOR DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU'LL GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Everyone who still had the courage not to run away could have sworn that there was fire burning in her eyes. "MEET ME IN ONE HOUR AT THE OLD DOJO! DON'T YOU DARE CHICKEN OUT, ASSHOLE!

After she stormed off, Mizuiro helped the hollow back on his feet.

"Ahh… you really shouldn't have said that, _Shiro-kun_. Now she won't stop until she's beaten the stuffing out of you."

'_**Is this kid going for punishment?'**_the hollow, now newly christened Shiro, wondered. "Hey, which way's that ol' do-what-she-said place?"

His question made everyone still present exchange horrified looks with one another.

"You're not actually planning on fighting her, right?" Mizuiro asked, worryingly. "You'll just apologize, right?"

The hollow feinted innocence.

"Sure~! But, she may want to call her parents before I get there~!" He said with a grin. "So, which way then?"

Mizuiro explained the way to him.

As the hollow turned to walk away, Mizuiro waved him off, giving him his most sincere insincere smile.

"I'll come to your funeral~!" Mizuiro said. The hollow waved back, not bothering to turn around.

O-O-O

_(3.55pm, inside the old __dojo)_

The hollow, a.k.a. Shiro, was sitting inside the abandoned Dojo, drinking orange juice he bought in a convenience store fifteen minutes later. He looked around the old dojo. It was in bad shape, with most of its breakable items vandalized, along with the walls which were now a canvas for the aspiring graffiti artists of the neighborhood.

'_**I sure wish I had I watch right about now…'**_ he mussed. _**'And meat. Guess I could wish for that too…'**_ Bored, he gave into fantasizing.

'_**Mmmmm**__**m… Sweeeet, juicy, lovely, spicy, grilled meeeeeeeeet…'**_ Drool began to seep down his chin. _**'Mmmmmm'**_

He jerked forward as a small pebble hit him on the head.

"WTF!"

The demon girl grinned.

"Payback time." She clenched her fists.

The hollow walked closer to her.

"Yo."

O-O-O

Ichigo dodged another savage blow from the Grand Fisher. As the hollow's hair turned into spikes, Ichigo quickly rolled out of the way. The spikes ripped into the ground. Seeing a second wave of spikes descending on him, he swung Zangetsu fiercely, ripping through them.

"I'm helluva lot stronger than last time, you son of a bitch!" He leaped forward, rolling right under the hollow. He struck upward.

Grand Fisher disappeared without a trace.

He swung Zangetsu through air, sending a small portion of his reiatsu into the wrappings, forcing them to coil perfectly around the large blade.

It was actually a neat trick, Ichigo remembered. Before he figured out how to do it, namely while he was in Urahara's underground training field, he had to sit down and wrap the cloth manually, one wrap at a time – a task that he abhorred even now.

As he continued to walk around the never-ending maze of hallways, he found himself staring back at the only door he found so far – the door to his old prison cell. Finally, he sat down, tired – because he had to fight for his life more times than he could bother to count – and also very scared for his family and friends.

While he was sitting there, an idea came to him.

"What was it that the hollow said?" he tried to think back. "He said something 'bout giving me back my five senses if I…" He stopped to chuckle. _'A shower. Of all the…'_ He shook his head.

He tried to meditate, focusing on finding the hollow's reiatsu, ignoring the fact that he probably looked like an idiot.

After some fifty or so attempts, however…

…

His vision suddenly blurred, as if he was blacking out. Then, as it cleared, Ichigo realized that he was moving inside the hollow's – his body. But the feel was off, as if he had one too many drinks – after twenty too many drinks.

His eyes suddenly started to water, as he fell to the ground along with his hollow, clenching his crotch.

_'_…_!'_ Thought Ichigo.

**"**…**!"** Said the hollow.

'_Does this happen to you a lot?'_ Somehow, Ichigo managed to ask.

**"**…**!**** ...!"** Replied the hollow.

The hollow tried to push himself up, when he was kicked hard in the kidney. He groaned meekly as he tried to roll away.

That was when Ichigo managed to get a glance at their opponent.

_'__TATSUKI!'_

_'__**Yo, Ichigo.'**_ The hollow greeted his former king.

'_What the hell are you doing!'_

The hollow managed to get back up on his feet. He dodged to the side when Tatsuki tried to punch him in the face.

'_**Kinda busy right now! I'll get back to you in a sec!'**_

She proceeded with a kick, but he caught her foot, pushing her back. Tatsuki lost her balance and fell backwards, but instead of falling unceremoniously on her butt like the hollow hoped, she twisted her body, landing on her hands, using her momentum to jump back on her feet.

She tried to punch him in the face again, and again, he leaned to the side allowing her fist to swish through the space that his head occupied a second earlier. What he failed to notice, however, was that her entire body continued to move forward. In a split of a second, the elbow of her left hand slammed full force into the hollow's face, sending him hurdling towards the ground. As he lay on his face, for god knows what time since he came into control over Ichigo, the hollow mussed out.

'_**Okay, I got time. What's on your mind?'**_

'_What's on my mind? What's on your mind, you freakin' psycho!' _Ichigo mentally screamed at his hollow.

'_**NOT so loud, damn! My head feels like it's gonna blow!'**_

'_And _WHOSE_ fault is that?'_

'_**Shut… Just… please…**__**'**_ He was back on his feet, doing his best not to be sent on another crash date with the concrete.

'_Listen to me!'_

'_**I said**__**… I told you… fuck my head hurts… Shut up… damn…'**_

'_Hollow!'_

'_**I said… Shut…'**_ He felt his anger reaching boiling point. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" In a single savage blow, he slammed his fist in Tatsuki's face, sending her sprawling across the floor, unconscious.

The hollow held his head, almost delirious from the pain.

It was then that he first sensed it… Tatsuki's reiatsu. He walked to her. Almost as if he was possessed, he moved his hands to the back of his head, slowly pealing away his human body. But where the ordinary orange spiky hair should have appeared, there was a long unruly mane, and on his face – a bone mask of a hollow.

'_What are you doing!'_ Ichigo screamed panicky. Either the hollow didn't hear him, or he didn't care. With his reiatsu as hidden as it was, chances were that no shinigami would interfere.

The hollow grabbed Tatsuki's hand, pulling her unconscious body up of the ground. The masked jaw opened.

He was inches from her neck.

'_WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!'_

The hollow froze, staring at the girl's unconscious face.

'_**What the hell AM I doing?'**_ He asked himself.

'You were about to eat her!' He heard Ichigo's scream.

"**I WAS ABOUT TO DO WHAT?"** He slowly lowered her to the ground, carefully examining her face. _**'I wonder how she would taste.'**_

He could feel Ichigo preparing to try and take control away from him.

"**Che! Chill a bit, I was only joking. There's no way a bony human would taste better than sweeeeet, sweeeeet h****am…"**

'_Hey! Snap out of it! You're drooling again!'_

"**Really? Psh… I guess there's only one thing left to do now…"**The hollow said.** "But first!" **He sent a shockwave of reiatsu into his inner world. Ichigo was instantly ejected from the passenger's seat and tossed back into the maze that was his prison.

The hollow reached down again, picking Tatsuki up, then tossing her lifeless body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

O-O-O

_(Fifty minutes later, somewhere in Karakura…)_

'_**Maybe I should have asked Ichigo for instructions to her house before I gave him the boot…'**_ He looked towards a small apartment complex. _**'I think this is it… Stupid human memories, not working when I want them…'**_

He walked up to the door.

Locked.

'_**Oh, to hell with this!'**_ He thought as he kicked down the door. From the inside, an elderly couple was staring at the door on the ground in shock and fear. The old man seemed as if he might suffer from a stroke any second.

'_**Woops… wrong place!'**_He picked up the door and crammed it back into place. The old woman screamed. A loud thud was heard from the inside.

Blissfully ignoring all of this, he walked back to the small stairwell where he left Tatsuki. He picked her body up, then proceeded to the next candidate for Tatsuki's home.

O-O-O

It some time later, that Tatsuki finally regained her consciousness. As she looked around herself, trying to figure out where she was, a foul smell made her face change to a Martian green. Immediately, she knew where she was.

'_Orihime… please get a cookbook!'_

O-O-O

_(Around __7.30pm that day, at Kurosaki residence)_

The hollow walked inside his home. Truthfully, he was rather pleased with himself.

"Hellooooooooo! IIICHIGOOO!"

But the hollow wouldn't be caught off guard twice – especially if it's in the same day.

He quickly sidestepped, allowing the bearded freak to fly past him. As Isshin turned he was greeted wit a face-full of fist.

"It's… good to see you too, son…" Isshin muttered through his hand, as he held his nose, which was bleeding for the second time that day.

"Nii-can! What happened to your hair?" Yuzu asked, pointing at her brother's head with a spatula.

"Oi, Shiro-nii, your food's getting cold!" Karin called. "Hey, I almost forgot. Some weirdoes were looking for you this afternoon. They said you'd promised to visit them or somethin'."

The hollow, Shiro, walked inside his kitchen, looking at the table filled with Yuzu's tasty cooking. His eyebrow rose as he remembered that fact, but he was too busy eating to ponder on it.

Several hours later, he was sitting on the family couch, with both of his sisters leaning on him, soundly asleep.

As he ruffled their hair gently, a small smile lingered on his face. As a strange feeling enveloped him, he stopped to ponder, but then he saw Isshin walking inside the room. Careful not to wake his sisters, he snuck out, going back into his room. Behind him he saw the beardo cautiously picking up the two sleeping girls and carrying them to their room.

Shiro entered his room, and saw that Rukia still hasn't returned. He saw the shingami badge on the bed where he left it. He picked it up, then tucked it into his pocket.

Opening the window, he jumped out, heading back to the city limits, back to his hole.

As he finally crawled into it, his shinigami mask dissipated into nothingness, and his hollow form took over.

He snuggled on his bed of moss.

…

All was well in his world…

O-O-O

A/N: Please don't put the bounty on my head just yet! Listen to what I have to say first:

FIRST – Why did he spare Ichigo? Just in case I didn't imply it clearly enough – he's just as clueless when it comes to that question. (And it wouldn't be much fun if he killed Ichigo so soon now would it?)

SECOND – Ichigo's memories of passed battles attacking. What? It could happen.

THIRD – the shower crisis. Ummm…. LMAO!

FOURTH – Just so you know, seconds after the elderly man suffered a stroke an ambulance was called. The paramedics arrived within minutes and he is now happily recovering in the Karakura city hospital. (See, I DO care about my characters! XD)

FIFTH – the shop owner's reaction to the 20 bucks - let's just say that one dollar is roughly worth about a 100 yen. I don't know if in Japan the amount of 2000 yen is considered to be significant, but I thought his reaction was priceless nonetheless. XD

WARNING – The tackling of thugs was preformed by a fight happy… I mean trained professional hollow. DO NOT TRY THAT AT HOME… EVER! PS: Attacking first is an offense punishable by law.

…

Oh yea, the offer I made last time still stands - I would like to change the summary of this story into something better (to replace the crappy summary I have right now). If anyone thinks he or she can help – please do! I would very much appreciate it. You can send me your idea via PM or put them in your review.

_Well so much for this time. I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing. See you next time! Till then!_

_~KuroiTori-sama_

_PS: Reviews are nice. They don't take more than a minute or two to write, but have the power to brighten up the writer's day tenfold. So, please review._


	7. Chapter 7:Limits and old memories,

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

A/N: Huge thanks to Zaralann, , Nemaethor, Silvershadow471, The Masked Noah and Quetzalcoatls for reviewing.

PS: I got a new summary! (For all those that dot here directly from your e-mail inbox) Check it out! (I'd like some opinions on it.) Huge thanks to The Masked Noah. Even though your idea didn't make it, it was the root of the inspiration that I had when I made mine. I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks. ^_^

WARNING: It gets violent. It does. Don't believe me? Read.

O-O-O

Chapter seven – Limits and old memories, the downtown battle

O-O-O

The darkness of the night shrouded her movements, as she shunpoed across the sky. Her worried eyes screened across the landscape of green, with only the gray concrete roads filled with congested traffic to ruin the serenity of the view before her. Coming to a stop, at the outskirts of town, Rukia was, however, not enjoying the scenery. Her mind was elsewhere, as she desperately tried to find her friend.

'_Do you even consider me as a friend, Ichigo?_' She asked herself, not sure what to think anymore. Almost three weeks had passed since she had seen him last.

To speak the truth, she did spend most of that time in Soul Society, training with Inoue, but still, every now and then, she would come to the living world to visit him.

She didn't see him. Not once.

Under the pale light of a crescent moon, in a cold breeze, she felt lonely… abandoned.

'_Why are you avoiding me, Ichigo…? And why only me?' _She landed on the ground.

She walked alongside the road, invisible to the world around her, ignoring the noise of the trucks that rolled along.

'_I sensed your reiatsu a few moments ago… I know you were here…'_ Her _Denreishinki_, or soul phone, as Ichigo called it for simplicity, flashed as she opened it, its screen coming to life in a pale blue light.

'_A message from Hitsugaya-taicho…'_ She quickly read through the text. _'Something in the Dangai…'_ She gave the place another glance, as if she had hoped to see Ichigo popping out of a bush. In the end, she sighed, realizing that, at least today, she would not find him. As she shunpoed away, an orange-manned hollow slowly raised his head out of a bush on the other side of the road, opposite from where the girl was looking.

"**Damn… that was too close."** The hollow thought to himself. He could feel some sort of squirming of reiatsu in the direction she shunpoed off to. As he focused on the feeling, he could sense the squirming of reiatsu in the layers that held Hueco Mundo away from the real world – in other words, a disturbance that was a Garganta. The reiatsu level within was… big. Oddly enough, the hollow realized that he had no trouble determining the number of the enemy, even though Soul Society had no way of knowing neither the power nor number of hollows all the way up to the point where the hollows already enter the living world.

…

"**Shit…" **The hollow unsheathed Zangetsu, ready to jump straight into the madness that was to be unleashed. In a massive burst of sonido, he caught up with Rukia, then, without her noticing, ran ahead of her, the bloodthirsty grin never leaving his face, as his mask began to crumble. Carefully rationing the mixture of his own and Ichigo's power, the hollow assumed his human form.

He knew that the form was a must when trying to pretend to be Ichigo, but as far as combat was concerned… **"Shit… This'll be fun…"**

O-O-O

Cracks appeared out of nowhere, as if they hang in air. As they widened, a black, otherworldly space was left between them.

A lone foot emerged from the darkness, soon followed by another. As the moonlight fell on the arrancar's face, he grinned cheerfully, fully prepared for the slashing, and the chopping, and the bloodletting topped with murder.

A perfect day.

As he moved his mouth, mouthing a curse aimed at the vacant street, his mask pieces moved – one piece was encasing his entire lower jaw, the other stretching halfway from the joint of his jawbone to the back of his head. Where it ended, a single down-pointing, curved black horn stuck out. His hair was dark gray, just as his one eye. Where the other should be, there was a huge scar – a remnant of his clash with the Sexta Espada, when he got overpowered and almost torn apart by the feral best that was Grimmjow. Since then the former Sexta Espada, now Privaron Espada number Ciento Seis, Colmillos Afilados lived only to slaughter.

He took his zanpakutou, sheath and all, and walked down the empty street, carrying the sword on his shoulder.

As he walked on, he saw a man walking outside of one of the houses. Despite the fact that the man had no spiritual power whatsoever, he seemed afraid, looking over his shoulder as he nervously walked to his car, which was parked by the end of the road.

Comillos walked up to him. The man started to sweat. The keys slipped out his fingers.

'_His instincts are quite commendable…'_Colmillos thought to himself. "But instinct alone is worthless without the power to make use of it."

With a single move, he rammed his hand into the man's chest, then pulled hard. With a scream, the fat, balding man stared at his body, and the broken chain that dangled from his chest.

"What… what the hell… what is this?"

"What does it look like?" The man heard the chilling voice of the arrancar. He slowly turned around to face him. The arrancar grinned. "It's snack time."

…

…

Five minutes later, he was wiping the still steaming hot blood of his face.

"Powerless humans… Yuck…" Still, the blood tasted good enough, like a cheap soda drink.

He was about to enter one of the houses to find some water – and more humans while he was at it – when he was suddenly interrupted. In a flash, he sonidoed away, as the place he was standing was slashed by a small dust storm.

He looked around himself, trying to find the one that attacked him.

And so he did.

On the roof of the house on the opposite end of the road, Matsumoto Rangiku, fukutaicho of the tenth division reformed her sword, Haineko.

Comillos grinned wickedly – a shinigami's flesh and blood always tasted the best. Annoyed by the way how she snuck up to him, he jumped at her, using sonido to increase his speed. The ivory sheath of his zanpakutou smashed into Haineko.

Matsumoto released her blade once more.

As the swirling cloud encircled him, Colmillos realized that the cloud did not consist of dust, but rather ash – razor sharp and flowing freely.

The ash moved in for the kill.

"CERO!"

O-O-O

A large explosion shook the ground, tossing Rukia to her feet. When she got back to her feet, she felt a strong reiatsu wash over her. Not nearly as powerful as the one she faced one month ago, but still strong in its own right.

It seemed to have come from two blocks away.

She stated to run, careful not to reveal her presence.

O-O-O

On the other hand, the hollow had no such dilemma.

As he sonidoed to the place of the battle, he saw an arrancar walking up to the unconscious body of the tenth division fukutaicho. As the hollow moved closer, he could hear the arrancar speaking.

"Too bad you underestimated me right up to the end." The arrancar said. "You could have become quite a bother, had you realized my true strength." He shrugged his shoulders, and raised his still sheathed zanpakutou. "Bye-bye~!" With a single swipe the ivory sheath was sent flying of the blade. Once it hit the wall, the sheath embedded itself deep into the brick wall.

Colmillos held the tip of his shimmering katana inches from Matsumoto's throat.

But instead of piercing her through the ground, the arrancar swung his sword to his side, blocking the large black cleaver.

The hollow grinned through his almost complete mask.

"**Gotcha..." **

"What?"

Almost like in a trance, Colmillos watched as the hollow put his hand on the back of the large cleaver. At the same time, the mask was complete.

"**Getsuga Tenshou."**

In a flash, black reiatsu formed a small bubble of destruction.

The arrancar leaped back, coughing blood.

The hollow's grin grew larger.

It was only then that he felt the presence of another. Judging by the arrancar's expression, he was also unaware of that person.

"Damn you Kurosaki! Why are you not watching where you fire those things?" Hitsugaya-taicho asked furiously. He was some twenty meters away. Next to his feet lay his fukutaicho, Matsumoto.

The hollow shrug his shoulder nonchalantly, but behind the mask, a bead of sweat rolled down his face. Taking on someone of the midget's level was definitely a one way ticked to hell. As he turned around, he saw Hitsugaya's eyes widen at the sight of the mask.

'_**Oh, shit… Guess I got some explainin' to do…'**_ Before Toshiro could ask anything, the hollow spoke.

"**You talked to Urahara?"**

Toshiro nodded.

"**Then you know what this…"** he pointed to his mask, **"…is, right?"**

Again, Toshiro nodded.

"**Let me take care of this goon… you take your subordinate away."** He could see as Toshiro's eyes narrowed in suspicion. _**'Please work!'**_ the hollow thought, almost in a prayer. He barely managed to contain a sigh, as Toshiro gave one final nod, than picked up his fukutaicho and shunpoed away.

"Oh… don't you fucking go and ignore me, damn you!"

The hollow quickly dodged, as the arrancar tried to slice off the top of his head.

"**Don't worry…"** he said. **"Right now, you got my undivided attention."**

"Excellent." The arrancar said, nodding. "My name is Colmillos Afilados." He pointed his blade at his own neck. "tallar y envolver, la Agavilladora!"

As the reiatsu levels escalated exponentially, the hollow could think of only one thing.

'_**I might be in trouble…'**_

O-O-O

When Rukia finally got to the place, the battle was already long underway. From where she was, she could see Ichigo being pressed hard to push back the arrancar, who now in his released form moved quickly, dodging every Ichigo's attack and then just as quickly launching devastating counterattacks.

He seemed frightening – standing over four meters tall, his entire body seemed to consist only of black cloth binds, which moved with nightmarish precision, sometimes soft and fluttering in the wind, and other times hard as steel, and sharper than an edge of a sword. His body seemed to still retain his humanoid form, all the way to his waist – but from underneath it, he had no legs, but rather dozens of black binds that he used to move around almost like a spider.

The arrancar seemed strong, and while not on the level of the blue-haired arrancar that attacked them a month ago, she knew that he was still dangerous. His movements were too unpredictable, and all those binds too dangerous to be left swinging around freely.

She raised her zanpakutou up to her eyes, as she leaned on a car, hidden from view.

Her best chance was a surprise attack, but for that, she would have to wait.

'_Hold on, Ichigo'_

O-O-O

The hollow sidestepped to the left, as three more black binds embedded themselves into the concrete where a second ago he stood.

"**Bahhh, is that all you can do? Why don't you tie yourself a bowtie while you're at it?"** the hollow taunted, mocking his opponent's power. But the blood that coated the left side of his torso told the truth – and the truth was that just a few minutes ago three binds ripped his left kidney to shreds. Right now he was using just enough of his hollow power to keep himself from bleeding out, and slowly regenerate the lost organ. He could have done better, no doubt about it – it wasn't called high-speed regeneration for nothing, after all – but just as he slashed himself free of the binds that pierced his flesh, he thought he felt Rukia's reiatsu nearby.

He couldn't risk it.

'_**Fuck! I'm gonna end up killed because I can't let go of the few luxuries in life!'**_ The hollow cursed. _**'But if I still want to eat more of Yuzu's cooking – playing human it is…'**_

Colmillos chuckled through the two binds that now represented his lips.

"Don't you think you've bitten of more than you can chew, you decrepit imitation of a hollow?"

'_**Okay, now **_**that**_** crossed the line…'**_ the hollow thought to himself, angry at his own handicap. He raised his zanpakutou. The white wrappings coiled around his arm.

"**BANKAI!"**

O-O-O

Choking. That's what it felt like. The omnipresent force of Ichigo's bankai seemed to crush her into the ground.

Rukia stabbed the ground with her zanpakutou, using it to support her weight. She could feel her ever shallower breath escaping her. But… IT WAS WRONG. Something… just…

'_Ichigo…? What the hell happened to your reiatsu?'_ It was terrifying beyond imagination, just… hollow.

On her knees, she stated to release more and more of her own reiatsu, allowing her to stand up again.

She held up her zanpakutou.

"Mai… Sode no…"

O-O-O

"**Shit!"** The hollow cursed, as he felt Rukia's power rise.

"What's wrong? Don't wanna endanger your allies?" Colmillos asked, surprised. "I didn't figure you to be the type."

"**I got my own reasons."** The hollow answered dryly.

"Che… Whatever." Instantly, the black binds burst from the ground beneath the hollow teen's feet, wrapping around his ankles. The hollow immediately slashed the binds, freeing himself. "Don't you think it's dangerous to take your eyes of your opponent, kid?"

The hollow instinctively jumped back.

And not a second too late, as a giant lance shattered the ground where he stood.

"Nice reflexes." The arrancar commented. "Let's see if you can keep up." He sonidoed above, then stabbed at the hollow. The black wearing hollow quickly dodged, rolling to the side.

Shiro's eyes widened in surprise when he saw the massive lance splinter and unfold, as dozens of black binds tried to pierce his body – most of them succeeding.

The hollow felt his mask crack, as one of those binds barely missed his face. He coughed blood. The liquid, he knew, was most likely filling his lungs, as one of the binds tore straight through the right side of his chest. The other binds penetrated his arms and legs, holding him in place.

"After that reiatsu burst, this is your limit? I must admit, I did not expect you to be this week, shinigami." As parts of the hollow mask began to fall of the teen's face, Colmillos saw that his foe was grinning like mad.

"Defiant to the end?" the arrancar asked. "Meaningless." He sent over twenty razor sharp binds to finish of the teenager.

The hollow twisted his arm with all his strength, until a sickening sound of cracking was heared.

"What are you…?" Colmillos began.

"**Getsuga…"** The hollow pressed the pitch black blade against the black binds. **"…Tenshou."**

An enormous explosion ensued, as a white bubble of devastation exploded in all directions, digging a huge crater in the middle of the road.

Not waiting for the cloud of dust to settle down, the hollow lunged forward, sending as much reiatsu as he could muster without breaking the illusion of him being Ichigo to his legs.

As the dust cloud settled, it revealed one huge monster staring at its chest where the black Tensa Zangetsu was buried up to the hilt in the monster's flesh.

Holding the hilt of the blade – or more like hanging off it, was the hollow nicknamed Shiro, half blind from the pain, and feeling week as a kitten from all the blood loss.

"Pity..." Shiro's eyes opened wide, as his mouth opened in disbelief. "You can't kill me simply by stabbing me there, shinigami-hollow. Please die."

'_**Shit! I have to go full-body transformation or I'm done for!' **_The thought of Rukia's presence flashed in his mind. _**'Damn, I got no choice!" **_

He felt hundreds of blades piercing his skin, and a single, cold blade slashing through them. He could feel someone's small hands holding him tight, carrying him away from the arrancar.

And then he heard her voice.

"Don't worry Ichigo… he's mine."

He somehow managed to turn his head and look at her. He wanted to say something vulgar, but his mouth remained closed, as he knew that his disguise was crumbling.

O-O-O

Hitsugaya Toshiro was furious, as he raced back to the scene of the battle.

'_I should have known… That Kurosaki doesn't know the meaning of the word restraint.'_ Even from where he was, he could see the fires that raged out of control, and the sirens of the firefighters that fought the edges of the blaze.

Suddenly, three columns of ice burst from the ground, followed by an avalanche of snow and ice.

'_Kuchiki…'_

As he increased his speed, he inwardly cursed that Urahara had to build his shop on the other side of the town.

O-O-O

Rukia rolled away, as three binds ripped into the ground, missing her by mere inches.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation…" She chanted, as she swung her snow-white blade, releasing a silent Tsukishiro, all the while doing her best to avoid being hit herself – with slightly more luck than her predecessor, namely – Shiro. "…the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"

She stretched out her palm.

"Hadō no san-jū ichi, Shakkahō!"

The arrancar let out a shout of pain, as the kidō spell hit him in the face.

"I'll rip you…" he threatened.

Again, she managed to barely avoided being impaled.

She held out her hand again.

"Hadō no san-jū san, Sōk-" before she could finish, she felt sharp pain at the back of her head.

As she slumped to the ground, Colmillos was surprised to see his previous opponent standing behind her. His arm was healed, along with most of his more dangerous wounds.

"**Now… we can play."**

The arrancar barely managed to hold back a scream, as the person he took for a shinigami imitating a hollow transformed before his eyes. For as long as it took Colmillos to blink, Shiro was already on top of him, his clawed hands ripping the binds of which Colmillos' body consisted. He opened his mouth to scream in agony.

Shiro's bone-shattering blow slammed into the arrancar's face.

"Get… get off me!"

Shiro grabbed Tensa Zangetsu's hilt. **"Fuck you **_**ribbons…**_**" **Without removing the blade form the arrancar's chest, he mouthed two words, through a wicked grin. **"Getsuga Tenshou."**

The arrancar let out a harrowing scream, as his chest exploded outwards.

"No… I'm…" Colmillos coughed blood. "I'm Privaron…" He coughed violently. "…Ciento Seis… Colmillos… Afilados… I cannot lose to you here… I still have one person I have… have to kill…" he glared at his enemy. _'Grimmjow… I'll forever hunt you… until your head is rolling before my feet… until I don't drink the blood from your broken corpse… GRIMMJOW!'_

The hollow's empty glare met the dying arrancar's eyes. In them, Colmillos saw no mercy. In them, he saw the end of his path.

Without saying a word, Shiro plunged his sword into the arrancar's forehead.

"**Getsuga Tenshou."**

O-O-O

Shiro looked over his shoulder, in the direction of Urahara's shop. _**'So, midget-taicho is almost here… exit, stage left!' **_

Subduing his reiatsu, he called up what little Ichigo's power he could wield at the moment, doing his best to ignore the blinding headache that it was giving him. His hollow mask fell off, shattering as it hit the ground.

In a flash of sonido, the hollow was gone, leaving Rukia lying unconscious on the ground.

O-O-O

_(Five days later…)_

"BALDY!"

'_**Ek!'**_

Shiro took a deep breath, then dived down to the bottom of the river that passed through Karakura city. The wounds he obtained five days ago were already ancient history, all thanks to the wonder of high-speed regeneration.

'_**She won't think of looking for me there, will she?'**_

Up on the riverbank, Hiyori was pissed.

"Don't you dare break another promise to us, dickhead! Come out or I'll beat you senseless! BALDY!"

The hollow silently swam away, careful not to give himself away – and he was lucky to do so – as the super pissed Hiyori fired a cero into the river out of rage.

'_**Nope~! No one here but us fish!'**_ he thought to himself, grinning.

O-O-O

Ichigo rubbed his eyes. There was no way for him to know exactly how long he had slept, in this stinking sewer. As he got up to his feet, he could see one of the memories run away from him, disappearing into one of the tunnels that crossed paths with the one he was in.

What got his attention was the fact that this memory seemed faint – almost transparent when compared to the others. Also, unlike others, this one seemed to have noticed him without attacking. Even more, this one seemed to have remained by his side while he slept.

Throwing caution to the wind, he ran after it, determined to find out the memory's identity.

As he turned around the corner, he was greeted by fur spikes, courtesy of another Grand Fisher. Barely even looking at the hollow, Ichigo, jumped to the side and pulled out his blade without slowing down. Before Grand Fisher launched his second attack, the black cleaver cut him in half.

"Wait!" He yelled out after the faint memory, as it disappeared into another tunnel, some three hundred meters in front of him. _'Shit!'_ He ran after it. "Just wait a goddamn second, damn it!"

As he ran after it, he could see as it reappeared from the tunnel the figure disappeared into a second earlier, as it was sent flying through the air. From the tunnel, a second Gran Fisher emerged, its fur quivering as it coiled and merged to form the spikes that the large hollow used as weapons.

He realized that the transparent memory he was chasing was a woman. She was lying on her chest, facing away from the hollow.

Ichigo's eyes widened. The scene was awfully familiar – where had he seen it before?

As realization struck him, he felt the word before his eyes go black...

…

…

…

"Ichigo!" When the voice finally reached him, it was as if it was coming from a great distance. "Ichigo!"

A woman's voice was calling him. _'Where…'_

As he opened his eyes, Ichigo realized that he was kneeling on top of something furry… and squishy. It took him a second to realize what he was kneeling on.

It was Grand Fisher.

The large hollow was now nothing more than a quivering mass of fur and shattered bones. The creature's mask was broken and, judging from the stuff that leaked from it, Ichigo was sure the skull was shattered as well.

Another thing was off – Ichigo's reiatsu.

It was going ballistic, going up as high as the point that he was when he fought his inner hollow – even though he hadn't released his bankai yet – then plummeting down to almost nonexistent levels, only st skyrocket again – all in a split of a second.

The hollow beneath him disappeared. Ichigo felt a pair of hands wrapping gently around him.

"That's enough, Ichigo… You don't have to fight anymore… It's going to be alright…"

He recognized the voice of the woman that called for him before. The woman that he chased.

Now that he was hearing it again… there was no way that he would fail to realize the memory's identity. Slowly, he opened his mouth, speaking out the word that filled up his world.

"Mom…?"

And, for the first time in six years, Ichigo cried like a little boy.

O-O-O

A/N: I am evil, ending it here, aren't I? ^_^

EXPLANATION SEGMENT~!

Colmillos Afilados (Sharp fangs) – He's the OC I created for this chapter. Believe it or not, I actually think I put more effort into him than it was required… Maybe I'll use him in some other Bleach-related work…hmm… maybe? As to why he came to the real world a whole week before the main assault that was the diversion orchestrated to enable the capture of Inoue Orihime? You'll have to wait and see~!

(I'm not sure I got the name properly translated into Spanish… *knows ZERO Spanish, relies only on Google translator - lame!* If you know Spanish and what I have done was wrong, please tell me the right translation… pretty please?)

Character background: Colmillos is one of the old espada, along with Dordoni, Cirucci and Gantenbainne.

His zanpakutou is called _La Agavilladora_ (The Binder). The release phrase is _tallar y envolver _(Carve and wrap?)

I think his released form was pretty thoroughly described earlier in the chapter, so I won't repeat it here. As far as the power levels are concerned, he is roughly the same in strength as Dordoni.

Actually, I thought that Matsumoto was a good match for him but, like the title of the chapter said, I wanted to test out Shiro's limits (so I made her underestimate the arrancar and lose, XD).

Rukia-nee-san returned! Did you like? (Hope you are shaking your heads thinking "you have no idea how much", and not "you have no idea how much you suck" lol)

Come to think of it, when Shiro decides to put his foot down, he can be pretty scary… no? If the Ichigo-meets-his-mom made you want to cry, don't feel embarrassed – I felt like crying too, (but only after I planned out the rest of that scene, which youwill get to read in the next chapter (Ain't I evil?)

Oh, and Shiro breaking the promise to the vaizard? He promised that he would train with them every day… (in the fifth chapter…)

OH YEA! Before I forget to do it again, I'll write it here. The scene where Inoue goes to the vaizard's hideout DID happen, I just didn't include it in the chapter, because of the time skip. TSUBAKI lives!

O-O-O

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

I'll be starting a new Bleach story in a day or two, so I'm asking people to support it when ever I can~! ^_^

It's called "_Scathing Moon Rising_" (title may change)

Pairings: Isshin/Masaki

Summary: He was a runaway royal guard, and a badass from hell, but she found a way to touch his heart. She changed him. And now, just so that he could stay by her side, he will take on the world.

Genre: adventure/romance

It's the story of Isshin's arrival to Karakura City,the battles he fought, and how they shaped the word of Bleach.

While it won't be as huge as my trilogy "A Forgotten Dream" ("Choose your fate" is the fist book of the trilogy) it won't be tiny either. ^_^ (I'm so excited!) So please support it by checking it out once it is released in a few days! (The original due-date was 17th of March, but with the way things are progressing it might even happen as early as 10th or 11th of March!) If possible, review it to. (Pretty please?)

_Well , that's all from me for this time. I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing. See you next time! Till then!_

_~KuroiTori-sama_

_PS:_ _Ulquiorra Cifer needs more target practice for his __Lanza del Relámpago. I'd review if I were you…_


	8. Chapter 8: A quiet before the storm

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

A/N: Huge thanks to Quetzalcoatls and for reviewing.

O-O-O

Chapter eight – A quiet before the storm

O-O-O

_(Previously…)_

_Slowly, he opened his mouth, speaking out the word that filled up his world. _

"_Mom…?"_

_And, for the first time in six years, Ichigo cried like a little boy._

_O-O-O_

It took him some time to settle down and regain his composure, along with his control over his reiatsu. Throughout that time, Masaki sat silently by her son's side, weathering the storm of the immense spiritual pressure that filled up the tunnel they were in. On several occasions, once the terrifying surges of power stated to subside, shadows of other memories appeared, but every time Masaki gave them a scornful look. The apparitions would then back away.

As he finally relaxed, she gently placed her hands on his face, turning his head so that she could look him in the eyes.

"So…" She said with a smile. "Was life good to you, Ichigo?"

Ichigo let out a faint chuckle, all the while staring at the ground. That confirmed it – Masaki was probably the only woman in the word that could approach such a difficult subject with a question like that, as if they've been apart for no more than a few days, and not years – years after her own death.

"I can't really complain, I guess." He closed his eyes and let of a small sigh. "That's as long as we don't count any of this… with me being stuck in this hellhole while that hollow does what he pleases in the real world…" He shyishly looked up to his mother's face. "Though I never thought I'd get to meet you here of all people. Everyone else here's been trying to kill me ever since I got here." Ichigo explained. He then continued talking about his sisters, of how they've grown over the years… and the old man that somehow still looked exactly the same as he was back then – and was equally annoying, even more so, perhaps. To hearing this last statement Masaki chuckled faintly, but did not interrupt him.

"And then, out of nowhere, this girl popped through my window..." Ichigo said. As he spoke of that event, his lips unconsciously twitched upwards, forming a small smile. "If anything, she seemed just as startled as I was once she realized that I could see her."

Masaki leaned forward.

"She wouldn't happen to be called Kuchiki Rukia, would she?"

Ichigo stared at her with eyes as wide as dinner plates, as his face was colored red.

"How did… did you know…?"

"…Her name?" Masaki finished his sentence, with a kind, knowing smile. "I meet her, a few days ago."

"B-B-But… that's impossible!"

"Why would it be?" She replied immediately, than reached out and ruffed Ichigo's hair. "Don't tell me that in this world you've only meet the memories of your past battles, did you?"

O-O-O

_(Later that day)_

Ichigo's duplicate swallowed down another aspirin, as he sat in the vaizard's hideout. Kensei walked by, tossing him a katana, then moving to the staircase that lead up to the ground level of the hideout.

"Get off your lazy ass." He said with a frown. "You rely too much on your powers – you need more training in swordplay."

The hollow shrugged and picked up the blade, stood up promptly. _**'He has no idea I'll be using all of this against them one day… does he?'**_ He bent his knees slightly, lowering his centre of gravity, and held the katana in his right hand, with its tip raised between himself and Kensei. Immediately, he felt something was off – this was no asauchi. The blade Kensei had tossed him was a katana of the real world.

"So, you noticed." Kensei commented upon seeing the teen's expression. "Get over here."

Once the hollow walked to where Kensei waited for him, he saw an opened crate. Inside it was his own body.

"But how…?" he started the question, staring back at the body that he left behind on the opposite side of the large underground training field, but Hachigen cut him off, answering the yet unfinished question.

"Kensei-san wishes to teach you how to fight without either your shinigami or hollow powers. For that, he needed to train you in a human body, but…" the large man gave off a chuckle, "…we couldn't have your real body cut to ribbons now could we? Urahara-san supplied us with several spares. He even added that white hairstyle you seem to be liking these days."

Kensei leaned over the crate, poking the body inside it with the sheathed katana that he held, which was an exact copy of the one he gave to the person everyone believed to be Ichigo. "In case you haven't noticed yet, it's a gigai – get in."

The hollow approached the crate carefully, as if half expecting the body to jump up and attack him – after all, with Urahara behind its making, everything was possible – but he finally nodded and entered it. As he climbed out of the crate, he flexed his arms. They felt weird, as if they didn't belong there, on his body.

"Odd…" he muttered out in half breath, but Kensei heard him nonetheless.

"Not quite like the real thing, is it?"

The hollow's frown deepened. "Don't know why, but it's not even close." He picked up the katana that he previously dropped to the ground in order to enter the gigai. Unsheathing it, he gave it a good swing.

He frowned at the sword.

"What's wrong?" Kensei asked, raising his eyebrow.

The hollow looked up.

"Nothing. It's just too light, that's all."

"Ready?"

"Anytime." The hollow said, bending his knees slightly, lowering his centre of gravity so that he could maintain his balance better, and held the katana in his right hand, with its tip raised between himself and Kensei. His left hand was stretched out in an angle behind him, with the palm open.

"Nice fighting instincts. At least you look like a veteran to many battles, as you should, but…!" He unsheathed his katana. "Your stance is sloppy, and the way you hold your sword is screaming 'self-taught'." Seeing that the teen was glaring at him, Muguruma Kensei smirked. "Let me show you a few tricks I picked up over the years."

He stepped out, one foot forward, and bent his knees. He held the katana with both hands, holding the hilt of the blade leveled with his pelvis. The arms were slightly bent in the elbows to allow lightning fast blocks and attacks. The tip of the sword was pointing upwards, just like his opponent's.

"A weird stance?"

Kensei laughed, heartily.

"It is, isn't it? It's called _Pflug_. That's German for plow. I won't lie to you, this style favors the longsword over the katana, but…"he flexed his neck muscles, "…don't be deceived. The difference between knowing swordsmanship and not knowing, that is the difference between winning and losing."

'_**Che… cocky, ain't ya?'**_

With a powerful charge, the hollow attacked him.

A blade flashed.

Sharp pain filled both of the teen's arms. His katana fell to the ground, useless. He collapsed on his knees.

The edge of Muguruma Kensei's sword rested less than an inch from the teen's neck.

Shiro mouthed the first and only thing that came to his mind.

…

"What the hell?"

O-O-O

(A few days later)

Rukia ducked, dodging a blow that swooshed over her head and then struck with her zanpakutou forward. Before her blade could make contact with her assailant, an orange, triangular barrier appeared between them, taking the blow instead.

A second later, the shield shattered before her momentum, and the person behind it had to do take a dive not to end up slashed.

Rukia stopped, and sheathed her blade and offered her hand to her opponent.

"Good work Inoue."

The orange haired girl on the ground smiled and took her hand.

"You're still not ready to fight, Inoue… I know it's not in your nature but, you have to be ready to-""

"I know that… Kuchiki-san… I know that I have to fight so that I won't just end up a burden for Kurosaki-kun… but… It's just…" Her voice faded.

Rukia placed her palm on Inoue's shoulder, offering comfort and understanding. But when she spoke up, there was no cuddling in her voice – she spoke only facts, without any attempts to make her words sound less harsh.

"Inoue, you don't belong on a battlefield – you just don't. You have some of the most amazing powers I have ever seen – powers fueled more by emotions than reiatsu, and that's unlike anything the Gotei 13 have ever seen before. But this is exactly why you cannot fight – you feel for your enemies. You don't want to hurt them, let alone kill them."

"Kuchiki-san, I-" But Rukia wouldn't let Inoue interrupt her.

"Listen to me… You have to listen! Tsubaki can't use his powers to the fullest when you're not ready. Remember what happened when you tried to fight a shinigami when you invaded Soul Society?

Inoue nodded.

"I know, Kuchiki-san… Tsubaki got hurt because he couldn't move fast enough… I was because I hesitated for a moment."

The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes, while Inoue tried to find a way to… she herself didn't even know what she was trying to find. An excuse, maybe? She knew what must be done – she knew. The only problem was how she would do it – and whether she could live with herself after that. She balled her fists and clenched them hard, furious at a handicap she instilled upon herself, until her knuckles turned white.

"One more time, Kuchiki-san." She got on her knees, and then stood up. "Please… let us spar one more time…" Rukia stood up as well. Reluctantly, she drew her zanpakutou again.

"Are you sure about this, Inoue?"

Orihime touched her hairpins, which glowed in an orange light.

"Koten zanshun, Tsubaki." She looked her in the eyes, trying to hold up her resolve, even though her hands were shaking.

'_They all do that… they think Tsubaki is weak. That I don't want to fight because I can't really hurt anyone. Maybe… Maybe they are right, but…'_ She did her best to hide the sadness from her eyes, so that she could ask Rukia the request she wanted to. Trying to force back the tears, she put on a Kurosaki's-funny-scowl.

"Kuchiki-san?"

'_They all think that Tsubaki is weak…'_

"Yes Inoue?"

'_But the truth is…'_

"Kuchiki-san, could you do something for me?" _'The truth is… I've always known what fuels my powers.  
Ever since I destroyed that hollow that hurt Tatsuki-chan, I knew that if I had the will to kill, Tsubaki would kill – period. And it terrifies me…' _"Release your zanpakutou, Kuchiki-san."

"What are you talking about Inoue? I can't release against my friends!"

Though still scowling to hold back tears, she managed to smile.

"Please, Kuchiki-san…" She pleaded. "I have to get stronger."

Rukia sighed, and lifted her zanpakutou.

"I still don't think that this is such a good idea, Inoue…"

Orihime shook her head.

"I have to do this."

"Very well… Mai, Sode no…"

O-O-O

_(Some time later…)_

Ukitake Jōshiro silently observed the two friends spar from a small hill not too far from where the girls were training. A smile lingered on his face, as he was remembering his discussion with the fukutaicho of the Ninth division, Hisagi Shuhei.

Friends are friends, he said to the fukutaicho, regardless of race.

As he finally realized that there was not a chance in hell that he could dodge the bullet and postpone his duties even a minute longer, Ukitake stood up to leave. As he continued to walk through the woods back to the main building of the Thirteenth Division, he deep inside felt both pride and sadness over Inoue's progress. He knew that, given enough time, she would probably succeed in her desire to become a better fighter. Knowing the resolve that drove her, it wouldn't be long, if she can maintain her current pace. And that was also the reason that saddened him, for he knew that no one had explained to Inoue the most crucial difference there is, for those that decide to wield a weapon. Oh, they did try – first Rukia, then he himself. But it's not something that can be properly explained in words – and the colloquial use of the word in question made it even harder.

What is fighting?

Is it combat?

Most would agree.

Most would be dead wrong. They are nothing alike.

'_When we fight, we fight with our fists and feet. To push back a bully, to settle a score, it matters not. Always… Always! Both fighters get to walk away. In a combat, from the very start, one of the two combatants is destined to die. People don't understand that, and they draw their weapons. They do that and, when they encounter a warrior that understands the difference, die.'_ Ukitake thought, then sighed. He wished he had the words needed to get through to the girl. And not just her – to everyone. No matter how he tried to explain the difference, no matter how many times they said they understood him, they never did – and they would always freeze up when the world forced them to see the truth. That is, if they weren't psychotic. Then it was always combat.

He knew that Rukia understood that. She, just like almost everyone else, including Ukitake himself, learned this the hard way.

He could only hope and pray, pray for that Inoue's first foe is not a powerful one, and that, should he indeed be one, that there is someone to save her, or that at least the foe himself does not decide for their battle to be a combat instead of a fight.

Maybe he was overthinking it. Maybe she'll realize it on her own is she continues sparring for long enough, before the time is critical. After all, she was a girl of sharp intellect, even though it was often hidden behind her airhead behavior. Maybe Rukia will manage to get through to her – she would most likely get enough time to do so, two months to be exact, if their intel was correct.

But no matter how he tried to look at it, Ukitake couldn't shake the sickening feeling in his stomach. Something bad was to happen in the near future, his gut told him – and he gave up on ignoring that warning centuries ago.

O-O-O

"So, that's how it works, then?" Ichigo asked with a disturbed look on his face, as the perpetual scowl deepened. Despite being asked to explain how she got there several times for every day she spent with him, Masaki nodded.

"We memory avatars have a revolving life span. We appear, we live, and we fade away… only to appear again, sometime later." She said, with a saddened look in her eyes.

Ichigo could now see clearly through her, as if she was a ghost. Even her hand, which Ichigo held firmly, was feeling like it was full of air, light and weak. Like he was trying to hold onto mist. For the first time, Ichigo asked her the one question she dreaded to answer him.

"And… How long…?" He couldn't even finish his sentence, as he felt his emotions penning up in his throat.

"I've been around longer than any other avatar, as far as I know, although I believe that the memory of that girl is also very strong." Masaki added with a smile. She tried to keep on a happy face, but, despite her best efforts, the sadness was becoming clearly evident in her eyes, as small, almost ethereal tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. She quickly brushed them away before they rolled down her face, so that Ichigo would not notice them.

"Ichigo…" She started. "There is still one thing that I haven't asked you about… I know that this will be painful for you, but could you please-"

"Don't worry about it mom, just ask me anything…"

For a moment, she just looked into his eyes. Then, finally.

"Ichigo, that twin of yours…" Ichigo's eyes widened at the mention of his inner Hollow, "… who is he?"

"Mom…"

"I saw him a few times down here. When I finally approached him, he said he was checking up on his old king. I didn't really understand who he was talking about, but when I asked him who he was, he became vulgar." She brushed the hair from her eyes. "Talking to him was impossible…"

Ichigo didn't interrupt her.

'_The Hollow was checking up on me? Several times? What the hell…?'_

Masaki continued her story.

"It was at one point though, I don't remember what I said exactly, but the look in his eyes – it just changed, immediately. He just stared at me like he was looking at me for the first time in his life, and then… He just ran away." She could tell that Ichigo was really puzzled with what he had just heard. Inside of her, however, she felt a tug, yanking at her innards, signaling that it was her time to go. It was just…

… She couldn't.

Not before she learned the truth. Only then would she allow herself to fade away to nothing. And also…

She didn't want Ichgo to see her die before his eyes again. She knew that, if he were to see her die, it would shatter him. Rather than to allow that to happen, she would fight the pain to the utmost bitter end, until Ichigo would fall asleep again.

But first, the truth…

"Ichigo…?" She asked him directly. "Who is he?"

"He…" Ichigo started, but then realized he had no way of explaining it. He never even thought about defining what his Hollow was. His first response was 'lie'. But he couldn't lie to his own mother. Not to Masaki.

"I guess, you could call him my biggest failure, and also my deepest fear." He admitted.

"Why?"

"He… He wasn't born with me. It was at this one moment, when I was trying desperately to regain my powers, so that I could stop Rukia's execution, that I found myself inside my inner world for the first time." She looked around them, at the sewer.

"No, this ain't it… I didn't even know there was a sewer beneath my world until I got trapped here."

"What does your inner world looks like?" Masaki asked him.

"It… I guess it was beautiful. I don't know… I never even stopped to look at it before, and now…"

"You want to see it."

"I never knew I wanted something so badly. Maybe even more than the real world… It's hard when your own soul becomes closed off from you."

'_Even though I can't really say anything to them, or do anything for that matter, I can still see everyone back home…'_ The Hollow held up to his side of the deal… _'But I still don't know… what he had done with Zangetsu…' _His mind was filled with memories of the only being that knew him for what he truly was. The memories of his partner… the partner he had failed. _'He needed me to win, and I let him down…'_

Seeing his expression, Masaki looked at her son worryingly, but Ichigo quickly pushed down the sad thoughts, and continued his story.

"When I first got to my world, it was strange. I had no idea where I was, only that it most definitely was _not_ Earth, because I was sitting on the side of a huge horizontal skyscraper, which seemed to stretch forever, even though I knew somehow – instinctively, maybe, that the end that I couldn't see somehow connected to a huge, never-ending cliff that was the surface." He even smiled, despite how greave the situation that he remembered was, when he thought of what happened.

"Just as I somehow managed to relax, I met this old man. He called himself Zangetsu – although at the time, I only heard static in my ears whenever he said his name. That was when the whole world tilted."

Despite the pain, Masaki giggled when he saw Ichigo's smiling face, as he continued to explain what happened afterwards, up to the point where he had remembered Ishida's words, and manage to find that one-in-a-million box that contained his zanpakutou.

"I still fail to see how this relates to your… Hollow?"

"I don't know why. Maybe I never will… But in that one moment, I froze up. I knew that time was running out for me, that my spiritual body was almost completely hollowfied, and yet, when I saw the hilt of my zanpakutou, I just stared at it until Zangetsu managed to snap me out of it. But…" He looked down to the ground. "The damage was already done." He looked back up to her. "Who would have known… it was only for a few seconds, but they cost me my entire life…"

Trying to somehow comfort him, Masaki reached out to touch him, but her hand passed through his.

"Mom!" Ichigo yelled out in alarm.

"Ssssh… It's okay, look…" She reached out again, this time stroking his hair. "It was only momentary, noting more…" But deep inside, she knew that that was not true, as the pain was tearing her apart. Still, somehow, she managed not to show it.

As Ichigo continued to explain, reaching up to the moment when he finally lost both the battle and the war for his own soul and then continued to talk about the short instances when he observed his Hollow's actions in the real world, Masaki patiently listened to him. She no longer made any attempts to make physical contact with him, because she knew that she would fall apart. She took a deep breath – she knew she wouldn't have much more time, and was doing everything to make the best of every second she had left.

In the end, Ichigo completed his story, and leaned against the wall, as his eyes were slowly closing.

"And that's all of it, more or less…" Ichigo said.

"Ichigo?" He looked at her. "I have… just one more question. Back earlier, remember when you explained to me what the Hollows were?" Ichigo nodded. "Didn't it strike you odd, the fact that your own Hollow doesn't fit into any of those descriptions?"

Hearing her words, Ichigo's eyes went as wide as dinner plates.

"But!"

"Think about it for a moment. You said that they are born form sorrow. Were you feeling it at that exact moment?" Ichigo shook his head in a silent 'no'. Masaki continued with her explanation. "Did you feel anger? Hate? Guilt? In those critical moments?"

Again, the answer was the same – no.

"But, what does all that mean?" He asked her. Masaki shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. But I get the feeling that I'm right when I say he is unlike any Hollow that you have ever encountered, isn't he?"

"But he-"

"Defended your town when that arrancar attacked a few days ago." She said. "You told me that Hollows always go after their loved ones. And he didn't, thank the heavens. Even though he acts like he's insane, once you pay attention to the little things, you notice that he is only doing what you do – beat up bullies and protect everyone."

Ichigo sighed.

"I'm sorry mom but, this is way too big for me to take in all at once." He smiled, as he turned his gaze at the ceiling of the sewer and closed his eyes. "We'll think more about this later, okay? I need some sleep now. Maybe I'll be able to see things a bit clearer when I wake up.

Masaki nodded with a smile.

"Sure thing, Ichigo…" A tear slipped down her face.

A second followed.

"We'll talk more, when you wake up." Somehow managing to keep the sadness form her voice, she said to him.

…

…

When Ichigo finally fell asleep, Masaki stood up and leaned over him, gently kissing him on the forehead, careful not to wake him.

"Take care, Ichigo…" She whispered, as she turned and walked away. '_Don't allow dark thought to sink to the bottom of your soul and fester there… You are much stronger than that, stronger than even your father, even though you still don't look like it.'_ She thought with a smile on her face, even though tears were now flowing freely down her face.

"When you are afraid that you will lose, remember your loved ones, and they will give you the strength to win… When you fear that everyone you care about will die, then let your sword be their shield. Let your very soul be the shield that holds back all the evils of the world, for that is what love is." She could no longer feel the floor beneath her feet. Yet, she walked on.

"As for your Hollow… Don't fear yourself Ichigo. Now that I have heard your story, I'm surer than ever before… Just forget it… If you could only forget it for a second, and not look at him as a monster, but rather as a person, I am sure that you would be amazed by what you could find."

She bit her lip, as a tremendous surge of pain filled her whole body, and letting out a faint whimper.

"And… when in the darkest moments… When your soul is frozen with fear, and you don't know what to… When you feel that you can rely on only yourself, please remember that you are not alone. With every soul you saved, for every destiny you have changed… You mould the word around you with every step you take, and teach others of morality with the ease of the wind… like a beacon of hope. The world itself will protect you."

She looked up to the dark figure who's shadow fell over her.

"So?" She asked it, through the pain. "What are you still waiting for, ugly?" Her eyes were full of resolve, as she stared into the eyes of the monster that took her life years ago, the same monster that she knew had killed her over and over again, every time she returned to this rusted world of memories. "Get it done with already."

The Grand Fisher gave her a grizzly grin.

'_I'm proud of you Ichigo… Don't you ever forget that. Mommy loves you…'_

In a single strike of the monster's claw, it was all over.

O-O-O

_(Tomorrow afternoon)_

For some strange reason, the Hollow that sometimes went under the nickname of Shiro felt unease welling up deep inside him, both for a feeling he couldn't name, but even more for the fact of what he was sensing move across the stratosphere, just beneath the thin layer, the final barrier that held apart the worlds of human and Hollow.

He was lying on the roof of the warehouse of the vaizards, and observing the clouds as they lazily moved across the sky, with the mighty cleaver right next to him, wrapped tightly in his bindings.

He also knew that he was the only one that could sense it, but that wasn't what made him nervous. Just like he did a number of days ago, Shiro realized that he could feel the reiatsu of the Hollows that approached that final barrier, and also could roughly detect the location where they will open their garganta.

And this time, there wasn't only a bigger number of them but also, more alarmingly, their reiatsu levels were off the charts when compared to the guy he had killed roughly a week ago.

'_**And I couldn't take him down until I did a full-body transformation! I am so screwed if someone of those idiots Ichigo calls friends try to tag along with me this time…'**_ He popped another aspirin in his mouth, as he felt his head throbbing. He was overusing Ichigo's powers, as of late, and he knew it. He had some doubts that, when the fighting begins, his human disguise would be just about useless – that's how powerful the enemy would be.

"A storm is coming…"

O-O-O

_(Meanwhile, down in the basement of the warehouse)_

Shinji and a visibly annoyed Kensei were talking at the table, over coffee.

"I wasn't really paying attention to his progress with the sword lately. How's Ichigo doing?"

"Doing?" Kensei nearly spat out, hitting the table in anger. "He's hopeless! I tried everything! Everything! Kendo! Both the German and Italian schools of swordfighting! And still nothing!"

"So then, at least in the sword department, he's screwed?"

"If he meets someone who knows his knowhow or has more power? He's ribbons. End of story."

Shinji held his head in his hands.

"I have a bad feeling about this Kensei… This war with Aizen that is about to start. It's like I'm standing on the rim of a hurricane, and… I'm about to take a step into the monstrosity. I wonder how many of us will be alive when this storm is over."

…

That's when all the alarms went off in Soul Society.

The arrancar invasion of the real world had begun.

O-O-O

A/N: There you have it folks! Chapter 8, in all its glory!

Since there aren't that many things to explain in this chapter, I won't bore you with the nitty-gritty. (I will, however, answer any question that you may have).

_Well so much for this time. I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing. See you next time! Till then!_

_~KuroiTori-sama_

_PS: Yammy's refrigerator is empty. And he's eyeballing yours. Review and I'll help him restock his own._


	9. Chapter 9: Storm

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

A/N: Huge thanks to Zaralann, Quetzalcoatls and Sjsofi for reviewing.

I would also like to give my thanks to _Soulsocietyreject81_ from youtube. (Even though he'll probably never see this) It was his AMV's that finally managed to snap me out of this horrible writer's block that I've been stuck in for two months. So, yeah, thanks dude! ^_^ Check out his Channel if you have time.

O-O-O

Chapter nine – Storm

O-O-O

The giant known as Yammy looked down on the world beneath him, as a garganta opened before his feet. A vicious grin appeared on his face, as he spotted the shinigami in their gigais in the park below.

"Looks like we've arrived at the right spot." He was already flexing his muscles, ready to jump in, to kill, to slaughter.

On the ground beneath, Hitsugaya Toshiro stood up from the ground, no longer leaning on the tree against which he sat in meditation. Carefully, he reached for his pocket, all the while fully aware that as he was, even the weakest of those arrancar could kill him. Beneath his fingers, he felt the cold surface of the Gikon.

'_Why aren't they attacking? Are they that confidant?'_ He pulled out the Gikon's pill and popped it into his mouth. The other shinigami did the same._ 'Their funeral.' _In a flash, he was up in the sky, his zanpakutou cutting through air, catching the giant Yammy by surprise. He tried to block with his hand, but Hitsugaiya reacted immediately, lowering the angle of his strike, changing the slash into a thrust. The sharp sword, imbued with power, pierced the reiatsu-reinforced skin, pushing half of the sword's length through, nearly stabbing Yammy in the face. Realizing the mistake he made, the giant cursed and closed his hand, stopping the blade in its track.

"Piecea'shit!" He grabbed Toshiro by the neck with his other hand. "I'll break your head for this!" Only then did he notice the unafraid stare, and the power bubbling within the boy. _'Aaah, fuck…'_

Hitsugaiya's lips parted, whispering the words with a victorious smile.

"_Sōten ni zase_…"

Yammy immediately tried to push him away, but the blade was still jammed in his hand. Both of his palms turned red. But before either Bala could form, however…

"…Hyourinmaru!"

O-O-O

Further away, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez examined the faces of the shinigami rushing towards them. And every time the answer to his unspoken question turned out as a 'no', the frown on his face deepened. With every breath he took, the scar on his chest burnt against his mind, sending shockwaves of rage through him.

'_Where are you, shinigami…?'_ The boy fighting that idiot Yammy would have most likely turn out to be a fun opponent, indeed, but right now, he was just an annoyance. The shinigami with orange hair was not there. For a second, it seemed to him that he felt some of that shinigami's reiatsu. It was slightly off for some reason, but Grimmjow just considered it to be an effect most likely caused by suppression of power.

'_What a waste of my time.' _Completely ignoring the others, he sonido-ed in the direction he estimated his target hid himself, somewhere among the busy city streets a bit further away.

'_Freakin' coward.' _If the shinigami actually tried to hide from him, then he was no longer worth his time. Not worth the air he breathed. Grimmjow's fist erupted in red, as a cero charged in his palm. He wouldn't bother needlessly looking for the rat, when he could just level the entire city block – a both time and effort saving maneuver. But just as he thought of it, a surge of reiatsu seemed to explode from all directions, overwhelming his senses. He allowed the Cero to die down and dissipate.

'_That fool's coming for me?'_ Grimmjow grinned wickedly, only to drop his grin at the sight of the shinigami, standing on the top of a radio tower, looking down on him with his arm crossed.

"**Hey Grimmjow!" **He called out through a mask eerily hollow-like. He opened his arms invitingly. **"Come 'ere, kitty-cat…"** He struck a flamboyant bow, grinning like a maniac. **"Party time." **In an explosive burst of speed, he jumped down on Grimmjow, not giving him enough time to dodge. Pulling out his sword in the last second, the arrancar managed to block the massive cleaver. Quickly recovering from the shock, he kicked the mask wearing yahoo in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Like morning mist, the force behind Shiro's strike disappeared into thin air.

'_**There go my short-term future plans…'**_ Shiro mussed. He was well aware that this guy was no pushover. He was a whatchamacallit – Espada, or something. **"Gonna have to do this the old school way after all…"** he muttered through his clenched teeth. Even as he spoke, his grin returned, as he jumped away from the arrancar, making some distance between them.

"**I love the old school way."** Black reiatsu swirled around him, wrapping itself around his body, then turning white – blinding white.

"**BANKAI!"**

O-O-O

While Grimjow had his fun, back above the park Yammy was in a world of hurt. His right arm was encased in ice, and he was swinging his sword with his left, trying to keep the little runt at bay, unsuccessfully. The other two that came with him were of no use either – the new sexta was busy taking on all the remaining shinigami, and the other one, Wonderweiss, was busy battling the deadly Karakura butterflies. It was times like this that made Yammy wonder why he had ever agreed to go on such a mission. But, the thing is – he didn't. Choosing missions was not a luxury available to the Espada. Not to him, not to primera, not to Ulquiorra, not to anyone.

He twisted his huge body to the right in order to dodge another incoming strike of the young captain. Toshiro in turn twisted his wrist and slashed sideways. Yammy blocked with his blade. He struck forward with his fist, but Toshiro leaped back.

"Bala!"

The young captain had only a second to react to the sudden switch of Yammy's fighting style from melee to ranged. In a blur of shunpo, in the split of a second he vanished from Yammy's view.

'_Oldest trick in the book!'_ Yammy thought as he spun around and raised his blade defensively. It was a strategy born of instinct. What did not occur to him was that the boy could have also realized this. So when he blocked above, the kid went below. The giant jumped backward to avoid the deadly slash. It hit him nonetheless.

No blood was drawn.

"What's wrong, brat? You didn't think you'd get to cut me like that again with such a puny sword? You're pissing me off." Yammy begun to laugh, seeing the scowl deepening on the boy's face.

"I anticipated that much." Toshiro said with a sigh. He didn't want to do this.

"Bankai."

O-O-O

Shiro's head hurt. Like, really, really hurt. Almost like his brain was being gouged out with a blunt spoon…through his nostril. Scratch that – it was like he had one blunt spoon for each of his nostrils. If he were to keep this up for much longer, Grimmjow would have an almost easy job of killing him. Well…

'_**Almost. But no time to think!' **_He dodged to the left, avoiding Grimmjow's slash in the last second. The building-up pain in his head was mind numbing. Grimmjow struck out with a downward slash, but Shiro made a quick leap backwards, immediately charging forward with a counterattack of his own, leaping over the arrancar, slashing Grimmjow's shoulder in the process. But the wound was shallow, Grimmjow managed to dodge most of the damage, reacting on instinct.

"What's with that mask, shinigami?" Grimmjow asked. "Shit man, that's the best imitation Hollow mask I've ever seen!" He bent his knees, then vanished in a haze of sonido.

'_**Gone! Fuck!' **_Shiro started to franticly look around himself. _**'I don't sense him at all!'**_

"**Shit! Where are y-…?"** He screamed as the Sexta Espada's blade sank through his shoulder joint, severing his sword arm clean off, only to disappear again.

Shiro stumbled, trying to stay conscious, as both immense pain and blood loss threatened to overcome him. And Gimmjow wasn't really in the mood to wait for that either. The injured Hollow tried to maintain his cool, hold up his disguise of being human, but in reality, he knew he had only seconds before it would all fall apart.

A silent flash of reiatsu almost invisible. Shiro dodged on instinct, the corner of his eye noticing the glint of Grimmjow's zanpakutou nearly looping off Shiro's head from behind. He quickly turned to face the arrancar, but his enemy moved to fast – by the time he got his feeble guard up and considered firing a Cero, Grimmjow already was close, too close, burying his knee into the Hollow's gut, knocking the wind out of him.

Desperate, panic stricken, Shiro pushed Grimmjow away – or rather, himself away from Gimmjow – a move that saved his life, as a split second later, the Sexta Espada swung down his zanpakutou, aiming to split Shiro's head down the middle. It was that last, desperate move that saved him from dying that day, but still, the tip of the zanpakutou cut its way through the mask, creating a scar running across Shiro's face that went from above the inner corner of his left brow, all the way to below the right corner of his lips.

The mask shattered.

Shiro's world vanished before his eyes, turned completely white from the pain scorching his mind. And his mind could only take so much before shutting down.

O-O-O

_(Inside the sideways world)_

"Aaaand…" Ichigo pushed a large piece of metal that he found buried into the wall, "JACKPOT!" The circular metal slab moved a few inches. Ichigo pushed again, hard, putting all his weight into it. The slab moved again. That was it. That was his way out of the bizarre tunnel maze the Hollow had trapped him into.

"Now… if only… this…" He continued to push against it. "…goddamn… would budge!"

He suddenly let go of it, experiencing one of those 'light bulb' moments. He unsheathed Zangetsu and thrust the large cleaver into the small gap between the metal and the wall. The metal screeched, as the blade forced its way into that tiny gap.

'_This will be good…'_

The grip on the blade tightened.

'_Or really, really bad…'_

Ichigo's hands started to glow.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The explosion blew out that circular piece of metal alongside a considerable part of the surrounding wall.

"Now that's more like it…" Ichigo muttered, as he simply stood there, with one foot outside, simply staring at the sky (and secretly happy that the Getsuga didn't shoot back at him). In spite of the darkness, in spite of the haunting blood red crescent moon, he could feel the euphoria taking over him. As he finally stepped out into the open, he felt his knees wobble. It took him a full month, but he was finally making progress – and he was one step closer to becoming free again.

"Is it just me, or do the clouds look heavier?" He wondered aloud, scratching the back of his head.

And heavier indeed they have become. One by one, rain drops began to fall.

'_Funny… I don't remember the rain ever being so… red?'_ Where ever those red drops hit him, they left a small red smudge. Ichigo licked one of them off his finger. _'Salty… Damn. Someone's got a pretty sick sense of humor.' _What else could it be?

"Damn, I hate blood rain."

It was only then, in the far distance, that he saw… **him**.

In a single instant, all of his happiness, all of his joy, vanished. In its place, there was only fury. The maddening rage.

"HOLLOW!"

O-O-O

The aforementioned Hollow was in a bit of a bind. He was lying on the side of the skyscraper, more dead than alive, bleeding to death through the huge wound on what was left of his right arm, and clearly in a mental state of shock where he was not able to heal himself. He trashed around, meekly, snarled and coughed, cursed and spat. His yellow eyes, though open, were blind to the sideways world around him.

'_**Never again!'**_ Within the confines of his mind, his thoughts thundered. _**'Never again! I won't lose to anyone!'**_

His yellow eyes, though open, were blind to the sideways world around him. There was no way for him to see Ichigo's enraged face, the speed at which his shinigami double shunpo-ed to him, nor the giant cleaver swinging down upon him. He never saw his own death coming. He was completely unprepared for what was to come.

But, then again, neither was Ichigo. He stood above his Hollow, looking down on his broken body with his zanpakutou mere inches from the Hollow's throat, and despite all the rage pent up inside, Ichigo felt faint traces of pity. Despite every cell in his body screaming for the Hollow's death, his arm just refused to move. By now, both of them were dyed red by the crimson rain, but even so, Ichigo could clearly see the difference between it, and the pool of darker red in which the Hollow lay. Finally, after a few agonizing moments of hesitation, Ichigo re-sheathed his blade.

"Life for life, you bastard. I owe you nothing anymore." The Hollow's body went limp. _'I can't believe I'm doing this…' _Ichigo kneeled next to him and checked his pulse. "If you need mouth-to-mouth, feel free to die right now, 'cuz, that ain't happening."

Luckily for both of them, the Hollow was breathing, albeit shallowly.

Ichigo slapped him. In response, the Hollow groaned, but didn't do anything else. Ichigo slapped him again. And again.

'_Is it wrong for me to enjoy this?'_ As he pondered on the answer, he slapped him some more, each time his grin getting wider.

As he prepared to hit him again, the Hollow's remaining arm shot up, stopping him.

"**I think I had enough people knocking on my head for today."** He said dryly.

"What happened?"

The Hollow shrugged.

"**Remember that guy that beat the shit out of you and put a hole in your girl? Well – he's back."**He was trying to act calm, but his voice, and his clenched fist clearly betrayed exactly how pissed off he was at the current state of things.

"And he did this to you?" Ichigo smirked. "Dude, you like, suck." But wait, if the arrancar – Espada, was there, wouldn't there be others? "Oh shit, where are-?"

"**Fine numbnuts. Your sisters are fine, unharmed and unspoiled."**

"Unspoiled? What the...?"

"**Unspoiled, as in – I didn't mess with their heads or anything. Hell, I've kept up this act of being you for a whole month. And, by the way, how the hell can you live such a boring life?"** Ichigo raised his eyebrows at the Hollow. The way they were talking – scratch that – the very fact that they have been talking at all was absolutely amazing, even though Ichigo would never admit it. He'd more likely call it something else. Bizarre would fit the bill just as good in his book.

"…**I mean seriously,"** the Hollow continued to talk, not noticing anything strange**, "if it weren't for your little fits of irresponsibility, when you tend to disappear out of nowhere, I would've been driven mad a long time ago. And, hey! Are you even listening to me?"**

'_Damn, he finally caught on…'_

To tell the truth, Ichigo didn't know what to make of this huge change in his Hollow's behavior. Hell, he was almost human.

'_Almost.'_ Ichigo reminded himself, remembering the sickening urge the Hollow felt when he nearly devoured Tatsuki, And also during that one time when he went berserk when that strange arrancar attacked a week ago… Those were the moments Ichigo got the chance to see the Hollow's true nature in action. No matter much he looked like a human on the outside, no matter how he behaved from time to time, he was a monster to the bone.

Ichigo's head reeled backwards upon receiving a mother of all bitchslaps, nearly dislodging his jaw.

"**Ignore me again, and I'll fucking gut you."**

Ichigo rubbed his throbbing chin.

"Okay, I'm listening. Spill it."

"**Wait a sec, I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something."** He lifted up what's left of his right arm. _**'And that about sums it up…'**_ He thought. **"Okay, give me a moment." **As he concentrated, Ichigo found himself nearly gawking at the shear sight of seriousness and focus the Hollow displayed – a trait he never seemed to posses, regardless of his moods. White fluid, like pus, flowed down the scar across the Hollow's face. Ichigo looked away in disgust. The same foul liquid than began to pour out of the Hollow's severed right arm.

'_Think I'm gonna be sick…'_ But, it was only then that he noticed the white pus-like fluid retreat and disappear from the Hollow's face. The scar beneath it was gone. Two to three minutes later, his right shoulder erupted in that same foul-smelling concoction of pus and whatnot, revealing a re-grown arm.

"**That's more like it… Help me up, will you?"** the Hollow muttered out. **"By the way… Did I mention we may be in for one helluva shitty day?"**

O-O-O

Grimmjow watched his enemy fall.

"That's it?" He asked, confused by the sudden downfall of his opponent. "Okay, now, I know for sure I didn't split your skull open, so what…? Are you fakin' it or somethin'?" He walked closer and kicked the Hollow in the gut, but his foe showed no sign of consciousness. The arrancar growled in annoyance.

"And here I was hoping for a good fight." He placed the tip of his sword on Shiro's neck. "What a waste…"

The blade plunged forward.

Blood smeared it.

It was stopped at half a hair's width from piercing the skin.

Grimmjow and Shiro were not alone. Someone's arm stopped the blade.

Seeing the surprised look on the arrancar's face, Muguruma Kensei smirked, as his iron-hard fist landed on the Espada's face, launching him several dozen meters from the unconscious Shiro.

"…The fuck are you?" Grimmjow muttered out through bloody lips.

"Muguruma Kensei. I will crush you." In a flash of shunpo, he appeared in front of the arrancar, delivering a series of devastating blows to Grimmjow's gut, solar plexus, followed up by a bone-crushing kick to the side of the ribs. The ferocity of the attack caught the Espada by surprise, and the method in which it was delivered completely missed all of his expectations. As he tried to put up some defense against the assault, and find loopholes in the strange man's defense for a counterattack, Grimmjow cursed at his own inflexibility that allowed him to be momentarily caught off-guard.

'_Fuck! Aren't the shinigami supposed to be sword users? Is this guy even a shinigami in the first place?'_ And then it was there! Kensei struck out with a right hook, which Grimmjow blocked with the left forearm, immediately following up with a strike of his right hand, aiming to rip a hole in the man's chest. Kensei twisted his right arm and grabbed the arm Grimmjow blocked him with, shunpo-ing away without letting go. Feeling the strong tug on his arm, Grimmjow pulled back, hard.

I was a mistake.

Using his speed and momentum to add to the force of his attack, along with Grimmjow's own strength and arm as a pivoting point, Kensei kicked the arrancar with all the force he could muster right across the back. He could hear the satisfying sound of the arrancar's ribs breaking under pressure. Grimmjow stumbled forward, then collapsed on his knees, gritting his teeth from the pain.

"I'll rip you to shreds!" Grimmjow roared, as he disappeared in a massive burst of sonido.

Kensei smirked.  
"So the fight goes on. _Futtobase_, Tachikaze."

But, the one thing neither warrior realized was that just then… Ichigo's body began to move.

O-O-O

Toshiro ducked, avoiding Yammy's broadsword as the giant made another attempt to take of his head. The sleeves of his Shihakushō were smoldering from a few moments earlier, when he failed to dodge a bala. He took a steep dive towards the ground to avoid a second barrage of those same red orbs. He pulled Daiguren Hyourinmaru closer, readying himself for the counterattack. The icy wings on his back had sustained damage, but at least for the moment they still could support his weight, allowing him short intervals of flight, which Toshiro was more than glad to use.

Yammy raised his left hand, charging the torrents of energy into a perfect sphere on his open palm.

'_He's switching to Cero!'_ Toshiro realized._ 'Now's my chance!'_ He made a sharp turn towards the giant, ignoring the screeching sound of ice crumbling in his wings. He swung his zanpakutou.

"Hyōryū Senbi! Zekku!" The ice shot out, razor-sharp, assuming a crescent form, immediately shooting upwards, but Yammy saw it coming. Maintaining control over his Cero, he managed to sonido out of the way. "Not yet!" Toshiro yelled, bringing his sword back up in an upward swing, building up icy daggers on its edge.

"Guncho Tsurara!" This time, Yammy didn't see it coming. The icy daggers flew through the air, each with the speed that even a trained eye of the shinigami and arrancar would have trouble following. Too late did the giant realize how widespread the attack was, too late did he realize that he couldn't dodge them from that distance – not without firing the Cero prematurely.

'_Fifty-fifty.' _Yammy thought to himself. It would either work and save his skin – or it would all catastrophically blow up in his face.

The red sphere ruptured. The power that was compressed earlier now exploded outward through that crack, towards the young captain. The ensuing explosion engulfed him completely.

Yammy spat to the ground, disrespectfully.

"Serves you right for tryin' to take me on, ya little imp." He reached down to his thigh and pulled out one of the surviving blades of ice. "I'll take your head to Aizen for this you little prick." He snarled out angrily. "I'll put the rest of you in my soup! And then I'll-" he suddenly stopped, as the dust cloud settled, revealing the young captain – battered and exhausted, but otherwise unharmed. The remains of his icy wings were falling off of him, as the last petal above his head disappeared.

But, that was not the reason he survived. Not the slightest.

There was a person standing in between the two of them. A person Yammy knew – and was itching for a rematch.

Yoruichi flashed her grin.

"What's wrong big boy? Kitty got your tongue? Or does your head still hurt?"

Transparent reiatsu built up on her back and shoulders.

Yammy glared at her with hate, readying his large broadsword of a zanpakutou, holding it with both hands.

"I'll stomp you into a bloody pulp you wench!" He charged forward, maddened by his rage.

Toshiro tried to move, to warn her.

"Just stay there and rest." She ordered, not turning around. "Monkey-boy's all mine." Like a freight train, the giant rain into her, but was stopped dead in his tracks.

"Gotta be fuckin' shittin' me!"

With her bare palm, Yoruichi stopped the blade. It all happened in the split of a second. Right at the moment of impact, the orange over-shirt disintegrated, revealing a pitch-black sleeveless under-shirt of her keisen uniform. Her entire body seemed to have been coated in strange transparent energy, that Yammy still somehow managed to recognize as kidō, compressed to the point it became visible to the naked eye.

Yoruichi's lips parted, slowly, as she whispered a single word.

"Shunkō."

O-O-O

Grimmjow jumped towards the sky, using a powerful burst of speed to reach hundreds of meters into the air, only to turn around and charge a Cero at the opponent he knew would be right behind him. But in the moment of release, he could see Kensei moving his left hand above his face, than pulling it down quickly. Instantaneously, his movement accelerated tenfold, and a second before he slammed into the Cero blast, that little pocket-knife turned bright white from the energy Kensei compressed into the blade.

Like a surgical laser, Kensei cut his way through the Cero, slamming himself into Grimmjow. The arrancar managed to move his head out of the way at the very last second, thus managing to avoid having his carotid artery severed. Instinctively, he raised his knee and blocked Kensei's attempt to ram his own knee into Grimmjow's gut. Grimmjow lashed out with his right hand, managing to grab Kensei by the face, and immediately began charging for another Cero, but Kensei was faster. With a quick strike of his fist, he hit Grimmjow in the nerve cluster in his right armpit, forcing him to let go.

"Who the fuck are you?" Grimmjow hissed out through his bloody lips, as he tried to shake off the sudden numbness of his right arm, which now uselessly hanged beside him. "What the fuck are you?" He asked through a grin, as his consciousness evermore slipped into berserk. He charged again.

"I have so many questions now, stranger!" He roared as he began ferally slashing at his enemy. "But none of that matters right now! Right now…" He ducked beneath one of the energy blasts Kensei fired from his knife. "…all I want… **is to fuckin' massacre you!"**

But, just as he believed he had achieved the upper hand, he was brutally stopped with a blow to the face, which he didn't even notice coming. The force behind it was… devastating, as it launched the Espada a full three quarters of a mile up into the air, tumbling like crazy.

But Kensei, who was only a few meters away from Grimmjow when it happened, only managed to see a large white blur, before he too was hit with the exact came force, causing him to slam into the ground. The first thing he could see, as he opened his eyes, was the ghostly white, clawed fist. He didn't need a second to guess to whom it belonged to. And chances were, he would most likely end up needing to be rescued from his rescuee.

He could see the black holes inside the masks sockets, and knew, without a doubt, that before him was the same being he fought a month ago. He recognized that same, mindless gaze, the beastly posture, the heavy, bloodthirsty breathing. But the monster now had a month-full of training in it. Vaizard training – and therefore also, in other words – Hollow training.

It seemed that Muguruma Kensei had a really big problem on his hands.

O-O-O

A/N: Voila! There you have it! Chapter 9 is done! (took me long enough… XD)

Okay as you can see here, I'll dump the supper-duper lengthy explanation that portrays everything in detail, and switch to the translation bit.

_Sōten ni zase – Sit upon the frozen heavens_

_Futtobase, Tachikaze – Blow it away, Earth-Severing Wind_

_Hyōryū Senbi__ – Ice Dragon Swirling Tail_

_Zekku__ – Void Sever_

_Guncho Tsurara –__ Icicle Flock_

_Well so much for this time. I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing. See you next time! Till then!_

_~KuroiTori-sama_

_PS: I'm supposed to put a threat here, but for the love of all that is holly, I used up all of my creativity by the time I finished the chapter. It'd still be nice if you reviewed anyway. ^_-_


	10. Chapter 10: Hollow Victory

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

A/N: Huge thanks to Zaralann, Asezuna, Laluzi, flakeshake07, ShiroHichi891, and FinalReason for reviewing.

O-O-O

Chapter ten – Hollow victory

O-O-O

_Previously on "Choose your fate"_

_He could see the black holes inside the masks sockets, and knew, without a doubt, that before him was the same being he fought a month ago. He recognized that same, mindless gaze, the beastly posture, the heavy, bloodthirsty breathing. But the monster now had a month-full of training in it. Vaizard training – and therefore also, in other words – Hollow training._

_It seemed that Muguruma Kensei had a really big problem on his hands._

O-O-O

'Oh god!'was more or less the entirety of Kensei's thoughts at the moment.

'_Leave it to Ichigo to lose it at a time like this…' _He braced himself for impact. Didn't need to wait for long. Like a freight train, the large, lizard like Hollow slammed into him, crushing Kensei into the concrete pavement beneath him. _'Shit! Need to get him away from a populated area like this!'_

Right. Get away.

From _that_ thing?

The large humanoid lizard that was once the young Kurosaki slammed his bare fist into Kensei's solar plexus, forcing him to bend over, out of breath. The punch was immediately followed up by a knee kick to the chin, making the vaizard fall over on his back. Upon falling, he coughed blood.

The humanoid lizard stretched out his hand his three fingers joined together, as a sphere power formed.

'_Point blank…'_ it flashed through Kensei's thoughts, _'…Gotta move!'_ He tried to roll out of the way, get some distance between them.

The cero fired.

An explosion followed.

As the cloud of debris slowly settled, the Hollow monstrosity let out a low growl. It had recognized that the foe it intended to kill was still living. Still breathing. Its growl deepened. Its nailed fingers gripped the hilt of the black zanpakutou tightly. Its prey was moving.

"**Not yet… I won't die… just yet!"** Kensei charged forward, Tachikaze glowing, the bone mask downing his face. **"Not to a goddamn animal like **_**you**_**!"**

O-O-O

"**So… We cool on this?" **Shiro asked.

"To sum it up, our body is on a rampage – because of you; our – my" he immediately corrected himself "friends are in danger – because of you; and you can't do shit about it because you got your mask sliced off – again, something probably your fault; and you want me to fix it by following this ludicrous plan of yours?"

Shiro nodded.

"You're friggin' insane!"

"**I qualify."** Shiro said with a shrug, only to suddenly freeze up. **"Did you sense that?"**

"Sense what? I'm stuck in here with you, you damn imbecile!" Ichigo said, turning to face the same direction as the Hollow.

Shiro bit his lip. **"Something's moving in the dangai again. Best get moving."**

"And, I'm supposed to go where, exactly?" But Shiro simply pushed him in the back, shoving him forward. As black streaks seemed to explode horizontally around him, Ichigo felt a jerkin sensation in his abdomen, as if someone attached him to a meat-hook and pulled. In less than a second, he found himself staring at the vaizard, Muguruma Kensei, wounded and bloody, preparing to attack.

"Wait!" Ichigo tried to yell, only to realize his lips failed to move. He tried to move his hands to… Eh, that didn't work either. _'What the hell is going on here! ?' _He mentally shouted at his Hollow. At the same time, the vaizard propelled himself forward, in a powerful jump. He stabbed at Ichigo with his knife-like zanpakutou and, just like that, without any conscious contempt from his side, Ichigo's hollowfied body began to move, dodging each strike with surreal easiness. Time seemed to stand frozen still, and Ichigo could see clearly, the glimmer of light reflected of the small blade, as he looked down, followed by slow splatter of crimson, as its edge bit into his flesh, ever so effortlessly.

"**Get going numbnuts!" **the voice of his Hollow exploded within his thoughts.

'_What do you want me to do, damn it! ?'_

"**You've seen me do it a million times, so stop cocking about!"** And in the Hollow's voice, Ichigo could clearly hear the aggravation, and hints of humiliation of having to ask for help in the first place.

'_A shitty day indeed…'_ Ichigo remarked, remembering the words of his Hollow. _'Well, best get down to business, then…'_ In the light of the current situation, he had no doubt that he was doing the right thing, lending aid – if he had to chose between handing his body to the hollow that might kill everything Ichigo held dear, or to an animal that would definitely kill anything and everything in its wake, it was no choice at all.

'_And after all, if I can wrestle control from this thing… than maybe there's some hope left.' _Focusing, he began to move his imaginary hands in sync with those of his hollowfied body. Every time it would pull to the left, he would yank a hard right and, little by little, through humongous effort, the mindless beast his body had become began to bend to his will.

'_Now, just to get out alive…'_

O-O-O

Jumping up into the air, Yoruichi dodged another swing of Yammy's massive broadsword.

"What's the matter, big boy?" She taunted the giant. "Having trouble swinging that little toy of yours, aren't we?"

Huffing and puffing, Yammy swung again, but the damn woman managed to jump off his friggin' sword! _'No one should be that fast!' _ Soaring through the air, Yoruichi pointed her fingers at her foe bellow, as it began crackling with energy of an oncoming kidō.

"_Sajō Sabaku_!" And immediately, from the tip of her index finger, a chain of light sprung, coiling itself around Yammy, restricting his movements.

"You think this can hold me! I'll show you my strength you little-!"

But she landed on the ground and, in a burst of speed, literally streaked across the ground with both open palms pointing outward. Yammy found the grin on her face… unsettling.

The surge of power in her palms was so intense, that they began to glow.

"Get the fuck away from me!" Yammy roared, and tried to sonido away, only to find that the chain light binding him into place.

"Hadō no nana jū san, _Sōren Sōkatsui_!"

In the last moment, right before the kidō struck, Yammy's face darkened with rage, as he opened his jaw as wide as he could, forming a bright red sphere of energy in between his lips.

The resulting explosion of red and blue sent shockwaves throughout the Karakura city park, as well as its surrounding neighborhood. When the dust, dirt and smoke finally cleared out, Yammy was down on his knee, his shirt blown off, and his torso suffering many burns and several shallow lacerations, due to the high-speed debris blown into the air from the force of the explosion. On the upside for the giant, it seemed that Yoruichi, having underestimated his Cero capabilities, barely managed to avoid being hit by that same explosion. In fact, the moment she realized what was happening, she quickly changed direction skyward, digging her heels into the ground and jumping as fast and high as she could while propelling herself away from the blast.

Despite the fact that she still touched down gracefully, she instantly bent forward and began to cough violently, until her palms were colored red.

"Can't outrun the shockwave, can you, bitch?" Yammy asked provocatively, while grinning through bloody lips.

"Sorry big guy, seems I got careless for a second." She wiped her hands against her black pants, leaving red stains on her thighs. "It won't happen again." Pulling her hair behind her ears, she flashed a quick grin, as she shunpoed behind her enemy. Twisting his huge bulk faster that it would seem physically possible, Yammy swung his giant broadsword in a horizontal slash, and immediately encountered a serious problem. Because of all the pummeling, blasting, and what not, it seemed that whatever held his right hand in place since it had been cut off began to fall apart, making dodging that much easier for Yoruichi, as he missed, slashing nothing but air.

She of course, failed to notice none of it and, grinning devilishly as the flaring of her Shunko reignited, struck. From a swift kick to Yammy's right biceps, she heard the bone beneath the muscle snap like a twig, immediately followed by the giant's roar of agony. No longer capable to hold the sword, Yammy released his grip, allowing the large blade to fall to the ground, hitting the bloodstained dirt with an empty thud.

"What's the matter big guy?" She said with a smug smirk. "You don't look so good." For an instance, she saw Yammy looking disoriented.

No hesitation.

In a flash of speed, she rushed to him, spinning to add momentum to her kick and slamming her heel into his right template. Like a deflated sack, Yammy toppled over to the side, unconscious.

Standing next to him, triumphant, she looked over her shoulder, in the direction of HItsugaya went to aid the others, only to see a set of massive ice pillars rise from the ground, and had began rotating around the new sexta espada, drawing ever closer to the boy. In a final scream of defiance, Lupi tried to force his way out of the icy deathtrap, but the massive pillars held firm. As they got closer and closer, even from her distance, Yoruichi could still see how the fury bleed from the boy's face, only to be replaced by sheer, animalistic terror, as he made his final, futile attempts at escape. In seconds, the massive pillars closed, sealing his fate forever.

Yoruichi looked away, and glanced back at her own enemy. Despite suffering injuries herself, she managed to smirk, only for her face to disfigure under the strain caused by the pain she felt in her chest. She began coughing violently, coloring her palms red, to the point where the precious liquid began to pour down her wrists, all the way to her elbows and from there, drip to the ground.

'_This isn't good… Seems like my lungs took one massive beating in that explosion,'_ her thoughts suddenly came to a halt, as she began to cough uncontrollably once more. _'One lung must have collapsed… this is bad.' _Her mind quickly raced, trying to find some solution. And more and more, she found herself wondering: _'When will that girl get here?'_ In a quick scan of her surroundings, she realized that there were no remaining arrancar to be fought, and somehow half walking, half stumbling, she walked over to the others.

O-O-O

To say that Ichigo was having a good time, would most definitely true – no less than he would be having at the dentist's. Yes, it was by no means any less exciting then, let's say – falling down an up-going escalator.

He ducked beneath one of Kensei's fierce blows, well not in ducking willingly, but rather, just going with the flow, following the autonomous movements of his body. In an awkward instant, he saw Kensei appear before him, ready to skewer him onto that deceptively tiny pocket knife of a zanpakutou and, in that moment, Ichigo saw an opening in Kensei's guard – an opening to which his body immediately reacted.

'_Heck no!' _He instantly began pulling against his own arm, causing the black blade of Tensa Zangetsu to just graze Kensei's abdomen, as it slid past the left side of his body, rather than impale the vaizard. Realizing how closely he came to death, Kensei wisely pulled back. To Muguruma's infinite amazement, it seemed that, for reasons unknown to him, the hollowfied body of Kurosaki Ichigo suddenly decided to run for his life.

'_At least he's heading out of town…'_

…

'_At least it looks like I'm heading out of town…'_ Ichigo mussed, though unlike Kensei he, having his own senses connected to this hollowfied exterior, knew that heading out of town was less of a goal by itself, and more of a… well, a coincidence. The truth was by far something a lot less innocent. The hollowfied husk of a body had smelled it's new target, and was already racing towards it.

And the target?

One Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez.

'_Crap.'_

O-O-O

Somewhere in the fields outside of Karakura, the aforementioned Arrancar regained consciousness with a sneeze.

"What hit me?" He wondered as he got on his feet. That was when the pain kicked in, as the neural receptors started functioning again.

"I don't feel so good…"

O-O-O

Meanwhile, the Hollow's mind was racing to find a solution to his newfound dilemma. Holding one half of his broken mask in his left hand, and the other half in his right, Shiro sat down on the glassy surface of the sideways skyscraper, assuming the meditative form very similar to that of a shinigami Jinzen, as he began to focus on repairing the damage, as well as finding a way to keep this debilitative flaw from being exploited by his enemies in the future. Wrinkles formed on his forehead, and a deep line between his eyes from his frown. He wasn't used to this type of concentration. Most often, there was no need to. However, this was not one of those times.

Suffering from a failure, yet again, he tossed the two pieces of the mask to the ground.

"**A little bit of help here would be really appreciated!"** The Hollow snarled in annoyance, once he came to the realization that his idea wasn't going to cut it. _**'Where is the old goat when I need him?'**_

"**Zangetsu!" **he shouted the name of his zanpakutou.

None bothered to reply.

'_**Oh for crying out loud…'**_

"**ZANGETSU!"**

"**What?" **he heard the echoing voice of the black garbed man, as he appeared from within a black mist that formed behind the Hollow's back.

"**Tookyoubloodylongenough" **the Hollow snapped at him in a single breath. He grabbed one of the broken mask pieces and tossed it to Zangetsu, who in turn dodged it like it was poisonous. **"You were supposed to catch that, damn it!"**

"**I'd prefer not to."**

"**Why – oh, never mind, just… help me out here, will ya?"**

"**How?"**

"**What do you mean **_**how**_**? I can't friggin' fight when, things go to hell every time my mask gets scratched."**

"**The Hollow's mask is your kind's weakness." **Zangetsusaid monotonously.** "Perhaps something of opposite nature would…?"**

"**That's it!" **Shiro shouted as he jumped back to his feet and moved get the fragment of the mask. He ran pass the zanpakutou, and picked it up. **"Ha! It's shit like this that makes me want to kiss…"** he looked back at Zangetsu over his shoulder with a deadpan expression, **"Nah, the feeling's gone."**

O-O-O

_(At the same time, away from the battles, inside Urahara Shoten)_

The sleazy merchant sat on his pillow, sipping hot tea. His eyes were closed, the lines of his face so uncommonly serious. There was no trace of the mocking smile. The door to the outside slid open, and a sudden gust of wind blew off his trademark striped bucket hat, but he made no effort to catch it, instead allowing it to fall to the floor. A figure of a large man appeared on the doorframe. It was his assistant, Tessai. The kids were there too. Urahara sighed in relief.

"So…"

"We made it boss." Tesai spoke with a proud, calm voice, though it was clear that he was tired. The kids behind him, Jinta and Ururu, were red in the face, and were almost on the verge of hyperventilating. "We set up your new prototype barriers."Tesai explained. When he saw the unspoken question on Urahara's face, he quickly added: "They held. Most of the city didn't notice a thing… and neither did the fighters, I might add."

"Excelent."

"There was, however, one incident I should mention. It would appear as if Kurosaki Ichigo, as well as his opponent, are no longer within the city. And his reiatsu… Sir, it wasn't shinigami's."

Urahara frowned.

"He's trained with the vaizard. He must have-" But the look on Tessai's face made him stop talking.

"Not like this boss. Not like this."

Urahara jumped to his feet, grabbing his cane. "Tessai, get Ururu and Jinta inside. We're going out there, now!" Just as he pulled the sword from his cane, he heard a familiar voice from behind his assistant.

"I'm going with you. You can fill me in on the details on the way there." Tessai moved out of the way, revealing a very worried Kuchiki.

"Ready for one more run, Tessai?" Urahara said as he walked past his assistant. Tessai only nodded, but in his mind, he silently voiced his opinion.

'…_**$#!**__' _

O-O-O

"Are you sure this is alright?" Orihime asked her shinigami escort that walked a few feet ahead with uncertainty. They have entered the Dangai passageway only minutes after Rukia, who went on ahead first.

"Of course it is." The man answered without hesitation, and looked to his partner, who nodded to confirm his words. "With the Jigokuchō leading the way, there's really no need to worry about the flow of the Kōryū currents."

"Twelfth Division already shut down the Kōtotsu, too." His partner added.

"My point exactly!" The first continued. "We have everything handled here." He said with a confident smile, as he put his arms behind his head.

Orihime smiled back at them. "Okay."

At that moment, she felt a faint pulse of reiatsu.

It was too fine. Too focused. Projected. By the time realization struck her, all she could see was the black butterfly that lead the way disintegrated before her eyes.

The shinigami in front of her chuckled nervously. "Well… that changes things."

She felt the hand of the other one on her shoulder. "Best get ready to fight, missy."

"What? ! Why?"

Looking in his eyes, she saw her own worry and fear reflected back at her, as the massive wave of reiatsu washed over them.

"Because we are going to die."

O-O-O

"Is that the last of…" Yoruichi paused to cough, then repeated her question. "Is that the last of them?"

"No." Toshiro replied laconically, while trying to put himself into a more comfortable position next to Matsumoto, who was busy trying to stop the bleeding from a large gash on Yumichika's left arm. For the young captain of the Tenth Division it was definitely not a good day.

"There were two more, actually." Ikkaku informed her as he walked towards them, wiping the trail of blood from his forehead. "You guys okay?"

"We'll manage." Yumichika said, than inhaled sharply as Matsumoto poured the content of a small bottle on the wound before wrapping the arm in makeshift bandages made from the sleeve of her Shihakushō.

"All's well then." He said and sat down on the ground, only to again wipe away the blood from his forehead. "Can't believe I forgot to refill my healing ointment before I got here." They heard him mumbling to himself.

"The other kid arrancar's gone." Matsumoto finally said. "I've seen him slip into a Garganta right before Hitsugaya-taicho managed to turn the fight around against the espada we fought."

"And the last one?" Yoruichi asked.

"That way." Ikkaku nodded in the general direction. "Guess Ichigo's handling it." He added with a shrug. There was no way he would budge to help. Interfering in other people's fights was not his style.

O-O-O

But if what Ichigo was doing could be called 'handling it', that the definition of that phrase had most definitely changed, because the way he saw it, the past ten minutes that he was out trying to pry control over his body back into his hands were as far away from 'handled' as possible.

On the plus side, he was hot on the arrancar's trail.

The downside? Remember the whole 'get-body-back-under-control' thing?

'_Really not working out like it should…' _Ichigo thought to himself as he once again focused on visualizing his hands where the bone-white Hollow claws were. He imagined his left palm clenching, and then tried to project that image into movement. Though it was only mere seconds, to Ichigo it felt like an eternity had passed before he felt his palm closing.

"Finally!" He yelled in relief, only to be shocked that his body instinctively responded to his urge to shout, transforming his thoughts into a physical form. But there really was no time to be surprised. "Now for the next step."

'_Stop.'_

Nothing happened. His body continued to run at breakneck speed through the open fields that surrounded Karakura city.

"Stop!"

Nothing. Didn't even slow down. By now, he could feel Grimmjow's presence, even with his almost nonexistent sensing skills. That just showed how close he was.

The sound of a Bala shooting over his shoulder confirmed that.

What little control he had managed to wrestle back began slipping away. He could see the arrancar charging towards him. In a last, desperate attempt, Ichigo gathered his will, foricing the rampaging freak of nature to a stumbling halt. He heard the arrancar's voice appear somewhere behind him.

"Geez… What the hell did you do to yourself?" Ichigo turned his head to look over his shoulder, his body moving in sync with his thoughts, as he blocked the ex-espada's attack with his zanpakutou.

"**Nothing that you need to know, Grimmjow." **His voice seemed to be followed by an immediate echo, like his Hollow spoke at the same time. With a powerful shove, he pushed him away. Grimmjow landed on his feet and shrugged, and raised his zanpakutou, ready to attack again.

"Fair enough." He charged forward, stabbing Ichigo through the chest. The teen didn't even move. Didn't even seem to notice the wound. Grimmjow's instincts screamed to get away, but it already became too late. Ichigo's hollowfied left hand grabbed his forearm in a bone crushing grip. He looked into the teenager's eyes, noticing how the oddly white sclera disappeared in the flood of darkness.

O-O-O

_(At the same moment, inside Ichigo's inner world)_

"**It's done" **The Hollow said with a satisfied look on his face, as he held the repaired mask in his hands. Lifting his eyes towards his black-garbed partner, he saw Zangetsu nod in agreement. Shiro smirked evilishly. **"Time to break shit." **He put the mask on his face. The red fang-like stripes on the left side of the mask seemed to be thicker, and more numerous than before.

O-O-O

Grimmjow's eyes grew wide as he realized that he couldn't break free of Ichigo's grip. He growled and yanked back as strong as he could, to no avail, then suddenly snapping forward head-butting the Hollow. He could hear a faint, threatening hiss from the Hollow's throat. The jaws of the mask opened, and small traces of vapor escaped.

"What are you-" and then he realized exactly 'what' his enemy was doing, as swirling energies formed a crimson sphere. The explosion sent him flying back, with most of his top clothing burnt away, and with heavy burn marks on his arm. Grimmjow struggled to his feet and shot a glare at his enemy. In turn, the Hollow chuckled, the sound of his distorted voice echoing over the scorched land that just mere seconds ago was a sea of golden whet.

"**Trying to blast away my cero with your own… That trick won't save you again, Grimmjow!" **TheHollow's insane laughter thundered across scorched earth, as he made another charge at the arrancar. Grimmjow could feel his bones crack from the weight of each blow when their blades connected.

'_Where the hell does he get that stamina?'_ He quickly ducked beneath the black blade, feeling the heat of a charged Getsuga singe the top strands of his hair when the sword nearly scalped him. He tried to fire off a close range Bala, but the Hollow kneed him in the chin, knocking him back.

'_T'hell with this!' _he sonido-ed away to make some distance between him and his enemy.

"Kishire! Panter-"

It came out of nowhere.

A single, thin, blood colored crescent moon…

Grimmjow watched, wide-eyed, as his sword clenching fist fell to the ground. His _only_ remaining fist.

…

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

That was when the pain receptors in his arm began working again.

O-O-O

At the edge of the field, Urahara wanted to sigh in relief. But, alas, it was not to be. Not with Kurosaki-san in such a state. Behind him, Tessai appeared.

"Boss?"

Urahara pulled out his paper fan.

"Bag 'im."

"Aye." Tessai clasped his hands together, as five small yellow orbs with skinny tails emerged from between his intertwined fingers, floating up above his hands . "Walls of iron sand… a priestly pagoda… glowing ironclad fireflies…" He raised his hands into the sky. Standing upright, silent to the end." He swung down, sending those orbs to the ground. Above the battlefield, a flash of bright light appeared.

Imagine Shiro's surprise when five giant iron pillars fell on him.

"Bakudō no nana jū go. _Gochūtekkan_." Tessai finished the incantation.

Ignoring the grievously wounded arrancar, Urahara strolled over to where Shiro lay on the ground.

"**What is the meaning of this, bucket-hat?" **Shiro hissed through his mask.

"Funny of you to ask. I was just about to say the same thing, Kurosaki-san. So… What is the meaning of this?"

O-O-O

END of chapter 10

A/N: DAAAAMN! It took me a long time to write this. (To all of you who just face-palmed, thinking: "We knooooow!" I face-palmed too. lol) I'm very sorry if the scenes involving Shiro and Ichigo seemed a bit dry, my muse was on a holiday/strike. Still, I'm quite satisfied with how this came out in the end. The only thing bugging me is that I had to leave out two things in order to improve the flow of this chapter, and those are the moment Ichigo realizes he's been duped, plus what happened later to Kensei. That'll be in the next chapter.

Translation segment:

Sajō Sabaku – Chain-link Chain Bond(s).

Hadō no nana jū san, Sōren Sōkatsui – way of destruction #73, Twin-Wake Blue Firefall

Jigokuchō – hell butterfly

Kōryū currents – Wresting Flow (it's the current that is constantly flowing through the Dangai, in order to prevent enemies such as Hollows from using it, a.k.a. the sticky stuff)

Kōtotsu - Wresting-Surge (The cleaner, a.k.a. the yellow thing that goes through dangai like a train through a tunnel)

Kishire – Grind (Grimmjow's release command)

Bakudō no nana jū go. Gochūtekkan – way of binding #75. Five-Post Iron Weights


	11. Chapter 11: When ! hits the fan

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**_

Rating T (I guess)

Mini author note:

"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world and shinigami talking inside inner world

'_Hollow'_ – thinking

'_**Hollow'**_– Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking to shinigami while shinigami is in the outside world. Inner hollow/zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.

"**Hollow" –**Inner hollow/zanpakutou talking inside the inner world.

… – Short pauses that couldn't be described otherwise. (Only when used in an empty line)

A/N: Huge thanks to Zaralann, ShiroHichi891 and flakeshake07 for reviewing. Love to you all.

2nd A/N: I'm happy to say that there are no battle scenes here, put pure, unadulterated character development. Character development... How I missed that word. Feels like a lifetime since I started the Arrancar Invasion event, and now that it's over... Pheeew. Now let's get the story rolling!

O-O-O

When $#! hits the fan

O-O-O

"So... care to explain yourself, Kurosaki-san?" Struggling against the strong binding spell, Shiro snarled at the shopkeeper.

"**Let me go, ****bucket-hat!" **

"Ah, no."

He had to fight his rising rage, Shiro knew. It was do or die, and at the moment, dying seemed to be a real possibility. And that would spoil everything, now wouldn't it? He clenched his teeth and tried to lift the kidō barrier off of himself. _**'To break or to fake...?'**_He could hear all but one of his instincts scream for the prior, all but the instinct of survival. And the way Urahara held that cane in his hand hid nothing of the threat it posed to Shiro's wellbeing. _**'Fake it is... Shit.'**_ Gathering as much of shinigami powers he could tear out of Ichigo, while at the same time forced his own Hollow presence to a minimum allowed Shiro's lizard-like appearance to melt away, to the point where only his mask still remained in place. The creepy shopkeeper Shiro always dismissed as a low-strength, high-nuisance asshole suddenly became a lot more intimidating, as he glared at the Hollow venomously. He wasn't buying into the disguise.

"**Let me go, damnit! What gotten into you, you crazed jerk? !"** In response, Urahara began drawing his zanpakutou from the cane. With a scream, Rukia appeared from nowhere, emerging from shunpo and shoving Uhahara away.

"What the hell is the matter with you two? !" She frantically screamed at Uhahara and Tessai, the latter of which suddenly seemed to have gained a profound interest in the dirt on his shoes. Rukia pointed her hand at Grimmjow. "Your enemy is over there!" Uharaha, however, showed no remorse. With fire in her eyes, she positioned herself between him and Shiro, zanpakutou drawn. "What did Ichigo ever do to you Urahara? Except fixing your mistakes! And you... YOU...!" Urahara lowered his sword to a foot above ground, and spoke with a voice as heavy as it was grave.

"Turn around and look at him, Kuchiki-san."

"Why, so that you can use that to get past me?" Her eyes widened in panic, as Uhahara's reiatsu exploded, before dissipating once more.

"Do not forget who I am, Kuchiki-san. I do not need such shameful means to achieve my goals." And then, it was gone, that sense of overbearing doom that was so clearly inscribed in his gaze – Urahara resheathed his zanpakutou. Once more, his smile was that of an ally and friend. "I owe a lot to both of you. I will not attack."

Still suspicious, she allowed herself to slightly lower her sword. She however, was not ready to resheath it. Finally, she slowly looked over her shoulder. With a thud, her zanpakutou fell onto the cero scorched earth. Her scream ceased only once Urahara knocked her out. He gently lowered her limp body to he ground, then kneeled in front of Shiro.

The last thing the Hollow could remember was Urahara's open palm glowing brightly inches from his eyes.

O-O-O

"**Ow." **Shiro opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to clear the haze from his sight. **"Where the hell..." **There was no way to tell how long he was out cold. He tried to get up, only to realize powerful restraints held his arms firmly anchored behind his back. He opened his mouth into an 'o', as he realized _exactly_ what was going on. He was in a hole, a ridiculously deep hole, held to the ground by the highest of all kidō spells – back at the place of his birth. And that could spell nothing but trouble. He was pinned to the ground and could barely move a muscle.

"You'll find that struggling is much more of a futile effort than it was last time, Hollow-san." He heard Urahara speak as he entered his field of vision from the right.

"**I'm not a Hollow you sonuva bitch!"**

"No?" The shopkeeper asked, raising his eyebrows. "Then how come your mask hasn't shattered the moment you lost consciousness? And before you say anything, know that I was there when the original vaizard trained to wield their Hollow powers. Do not lie."

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know? Maybe I'm just different from them! Ever thought of that brainiac?"

"Perhaps... Then how about this – why is it that while unconscious, you leaked more Hollow reiatsu than that of a shinigami?"

"**I... Maybe the Hollow inside me is stronger that those the Vaizard have. And I had my mask on! It's only natural! Look..."** he said, before the pulling out even more of Ichigo's power, while repressing his own as hard as he could. His head began throbbing. The mask on his face disintegrated. "...look me in the eyes! I'm not a Hollow!" He was now speaking in a completely human voice. Urahara shook his head.

"Alright. I am willing to believe you – _if_ you can answer just one simple question for me." They glared at each other, neither looking away. "Why is there a hole in your chest?" Shiro closed his eyes, continuing to lay in silence. Minutes passed, and yet nothing happened. Clearly, he knew, the devil had came to collect – he sure as hell couldn't do anything to stop him – so why wasn't he collecting anything? He opened one eye, only to realize Urahara was sitting some three feet in front of him. His zanpakutou was sheathed and on the ground next to him. Behind Urahara, placed against the wall, he could see Zangetsu's black blade. He closed his eye again.

'_**What the...?'**_ This time, he opened both eyes and looked straight at the shopkeeper, who only looked at him with the same puzzlement that reflected in Shiro's gaze.

"Odd response..."

"What?"

"To be honest, I had expected that you would at least attempt to transform into your true self once your cover was blown. When I spoke with Kurosaki after he first returned from Soul Society, he said how you were extremely violent and insane beyond help."

"Mhmm... and he committed a ridiculous effort on his side to make sure he was right, right? Well screw you," he turned his head to Tessai, who till then was sitting quietly to his left, maintaining the Kin spell, "and screw you, and Ichigo too while you're at it! You're all so hell-bent on getting rid of me from day one. Why did you bring me here? To watch me beg for my life before you kill me? To see if I would hand Ichigo back to you? Don't hold your breath for either of those. I have my pride, shinigami. Where's yours?"

"Fe-feisty, isn't he, boss?" Tessai said through the strain of maintaining his kidō on maximum output power. Urahara's grin at that moment could have sent shivers down Kenpachi's spine, for sure.

"Indeed he is, Tessai." He leaned forward. "Then how about a deal, oh thou proud Hollow?"

"Like hell."

"Like hell it will be, have no doubt about it. But it _will_ get you out of this jam." The frown on the teen's face deepened. He was listening.

"Well for starters," Urahara said, pulling out his signature fan marked with symbols for 'love' and 'peace', "you should know that Orihime Inoue vanished on her way to the real world while passing through the dangai." The shopkeeper frowned a bit, once he saw that the news held no significance for the teenager. "The Twelfth Division team discovered the remains of her escort half-buried under the Kōryū." Shiro only lifted his eyebrows in a silent question. "It's the sticky stuff that oozes from the walls."Urahara added.

"Ah."

"Yes, well, while we had no idea who had performed the deed itself, the scientists of the Research and Development Institute were able to guarantee that she had not perished due to the Dangai itself – thus concluding-"

"Yawn..." Urahara's eye twitched, but he continued as if nothing happened.

"...concluding that she was taken by an unknown force. In other words, Aizen sent one of his subordinates to capture her."

"Whoa, whoa... Hey, bucket-hat, before you continue further with the bleeding heart routine, can I at least transform, or go back to my human body? Just because I can hold this form for hours at a time doesn't mean it's a piece of cake."

"...you can put your mask on. How does that suit you?" Shiro's mask appeared in an instant.

"**That's better."** The Hollow said with a sound of satisfaction. **"Now, let me see if I got this right? You need me to rescue a damsel in distress?"  
**"Exactly!" Urahara replied cheerfully, and without a shred of honesty.

"**Riiiight..."**

"But right it is, Hollow-san!" Okay, now _that_ sneaky look in Urahara's eyes scared the crap out of him. "You _will _be rescuing Inoue-san. But, it is only fitting that with every arrancar you kill while getting there will make your job that much easier? So! What say you, Hollow-san?" Now it was Shiro's time to flash a wicked grin. Urahara didn't need to see through the Hollow's mask to know that.

"**You're saying you're sending me on a suicide run to fight a bunch of badasses? Where do I sign up?"**

"Excellent! I knew you had the hero in you, Hollow-san!" _'Hero my ass,'_ he thought for himself,_ 'but never mind.' _"Oh, and who said anything about sending you into the lion's den alone. And no, they won't know who you truly are. Still feeling up for it? Kurosaki-san once said you loved fighting."

"**Love it? Fuck yea! I live for it!"**

"Language, Hollow-san. Mind your language – there are children present." With that, he pointed his finger up, but no matter how he tried, Shiro couldn't crane his neck far enough to see who he was talking about. Jinta and Ururu, most likey. The shopkeeper snapped his fingers. "Release him, Tessai."

And that was it. One moment, Shiro was lying flat on his belly, only being able to move his head – and the next he was free, springing to his feet. Before anyone could react, he sonido-ed behind Urahara's back. When the sleazy merchant looked over his shoulder, he felt Zangetsu's cold blade pressed against his neck.

"Oh, my..." There was no trace of worry in his voice. "What happened to your pride, Hollow-san? Won't you hold up your end of the bargain?" With a 'che' the Hollow resheathed the massive cleaver and put it on his back.

"**It's right where I left it. Don't worry, I'll do my part. But what's in it for me – after this is over?"**

"One week head start?"

"**A month."**

"Two weeks from the moment the girl steps back into the real world. Take it or leave it." Urahara said with a confident smile while stretching out his arm for a handshake. Shiro took his hand.

"**Deal." **They shook on it, and let go of each other. **"Hold it. I still have a handful of questions."**

"Shoot."

"**Grimmjow,"** he started counting on his fingers, **"Rukia, and what happened after I blacked out?"**

"I believe I will explain the ordeal of Kuchiki-san first. On our way to intercept you, she demanded to know exactly what had happened to you. I may have inavertably informed her of the high possibility that you have lost control of your Hollow powers, and that the Kurosaki Ichigo she knew no longer existed."

"**Aand your brain was... where exactly when you made that decision?"**

"Ahem, as I was saying... after that, Tessai and myself went on ahead since we could reach you faster." His smile quickly turned apologetic. "I also may have failed to properly inform her of the manner in which the Hollow powers of vaizard manifest themselves."

"**Greeeat... Not only is she now traumatized, but she's traumatized by something that shouldn't have traumatized her in the first place... smooth bucket-hat. Real smooth."**

"An unfortunate circumstance that may yet work in our benefit, Hollow-san."

"**And how is that exactly? Thanks to you Mr. Blunder, Isshin now won't let me get within one mile of the house! How are you to fix that?"**

"Simple. No one will tell him."

"**Ha! You..."** Shiro broke off into a maniacal fit of laughter. **"You didn't tell him his son was a Hollow! This is hilarious! Wait till Ichigo hears this!"** In a moment, Urahara's eyes flashed dangerously, and Shiro knew he spoke too much. But then, Urahara smiled and the moment past.

"Now, if you will follow me out of this hole, I will fill you in on the rest of what was happening."

O-O-O

"You're kidding, right?" Shiro asked in bewilderment. His mask was gone once again. They were sitting at Urahara's table, just like Ichigo and Rukia used to do with their friends whenever they would come to the shopkeeper, sipping his over-sugared tea. "All you can tell me about the arrancar that bailed out Grimmjow was that he was tall, had long brown hair, a mask fragment for a necklace. And that he fired a bucketload of ceros at you before disappearing along with Grimmjow through a garganta?"

"Well, yes, there's that... Also, the arrancar you called Grimmjow ran off the battlefield holding his sword-clenching fist in his teeth."

"Hold on!" Shiro said raising his hand while his lips stretched into a grin. "Committing image to memory... lol."

"Glad I could amuse you. As far as the rest of it went, Yoruichi managed to successfully capture Yammy, and he's already been handed over to the Research and Development Institute yesterday." Shiro shuddered at the thought of it, and thanked whatever lucky star he was born under that that wasn't him. "The espada, as Aizen has taken a liking to calling them, are currently down two members, with the sexta and diez espada gone, and the previous sexta Grimmjow disabilitated at least temporarely-"

"Temporarily?"

"Inoue-san."

"Ah... That's good. I get a rematch after all." Urahara frowned.

"If I may, Hollow-san, referring to you as that feels really awkward."

"Hugh?"

"Your name, Hollow-san?

"Don't have one," the Hollow quickly replied, "never cared long enough to get one." But in the back of his head he could hear a memory of a little girl's voice.

_(Flashback)_

_"Oi, Shiro-nii, your food's getting cold!"_

_(End flashback)_

Karin... It was doable, was it not? "If you need a name, then call me Shiro. It's better than the alternative."

Urahara raised his finger in question. "Hichigo?" Shiro's eye twitched.

TWACK!

"Bingo." He walked out of the room, noticing his human body positioned next to the exit. It seemed almost as if it was sleeping. Shiro stepped inside and walked out of the shop.

O-O-O

Once Urahara was alone once again, having Shiro leave for home, the door to the room they were previously in slid open. A short blond girl walked inside.

"Ah, wasn't that great? Just like old times, ne... Hiyori-chan?"

"Peachy..." Before Urahara could even blink, his face had a close encounter of the third kind with the girl's sandal. "Why the hell did you let him just go you idiot? ! What if he runs away to Hueco Mundo? Kensei's in a hospital because of him!"

"Hmmm... Didn't think of that one... Damn, and I just managed to stop my nose from bleeding..."

"That's bull and you know it! Why'd you just let him walk away like that after everything?"

Urahara smiled, saying nothing in response, busy simply sipping his tea and smiling sneakily. He nearly swallowed his cup when Hiyori smacked him on the back of the head with her sandal.

"Damn, Hiyori~caaan! Why did you do that~!"

"Shut up, you're annoying." She smiled nostalgically, and Urahara returned her smile. "Just like old times indeed. Guess we can let him walk for now. But you better not lose him out of your sight!"

O-O-O

It was dark.

Very, VERY dark. And spooky. AND creepy. She did not like where she was one bit.

"Hello!" She called out, hoping that someone would hear her. She tried to open the only door that lead to the room she was in, but it appeared locked. "Hello!" She could clearly see there was light on the other side of the door. When it suddenly opened, she was knocked back on her butt.  
"Ow, ouchie, ow... owie..." She then noticed the man standing on the doorstep, holding a silver tray with food and water. He wore a white uniform. His skin was ashened, and his hair was the colour of lampblack.

And he wore a bone like helmet that spread over half of his head, not covering his face, and had a horn. For the teenage girl, it didn't take long to put two and two together.

"You're one of the guys that tried to kill Tatsuki-chan!" The arrancar raised his eyebrow.

"I am Ulquiorra Cifer. Consider yourself a prisoner of Aizen-sama. It is by his grace only, that you were allowed to live... where the two shinigami were not." The edges of the girl's eyes watered. "Your tears are meaningless. Do not attempt to escape. The power you wield is even more meaningless."

"Are... are you the one who brought me here?" She asked, managing to hold it together.

"No. If it were me, I would have ensured that the Soul Society consider you traitor." Ulquiorra pointed his thumb over his shoulder, at a figure of a tall man. "Instead, it was him."

"Neee... Ulquiorra... Why did you bring me here again?" The other man complained, that yawned. "You could have waited till I woke up on my own, you know."

"And wait for how long?" Ulquiorra asked rhetorically. "You were the one to capture her. Aizen-sama assigned you as her guardian." The tall, brown haired arrancar yawned again.

"And I outrank you, so I passed the honors to you." He paused and rubbed his forehead. "Besides, I'm bad with responsibilities. I'd probably forget to feed her, and she would die. 'Sides, you love this sortta thing, don't you?"

"Starrk..." Ulquiorra named him warningly. The other man simply rolled his eyes.

"Um, S-Starrk-san?" He looked over to the frightened girl.

"What is it?"

"Thank you for not making my friends believe I betrayed them, Strarrk-san." She thanked him with a meek voice.

"Yeah, whatever. Setting all that up would've taken too long anyways." He waved his hand dismissively. "Besides, I promised Lilynette I'd take her to the amusement park."

Ulquiorra looked at him slightly surprised.

"You deviated from the mission?"

"...You never heard that last part."

The cuatro espada shrugged. "The job was done in the end. I will not report this to Aizen-sama."

Despite the gravity of her situation, Orihime smiled a bit. After all seeing someone who was probably the most powerful person she had ever met sigh a genuine sigh of relief was too funny. And she needed every drop of positiveness if she was to survive.

O-O-O

It was late Saturday morning when Shiro finally got home.

"Nii-chan!" Yuzu screamed in delight, dropping what she was doing as soon as she saw her brother walk inside the house, and immediately ran up to him and jumped to hug him.

"Hey, hey! Don't get all the dough from your hands on me!" She immediately let go.

"Sorry, Nii-chan..." Shiro immediately pulled her back into a hug. "Missed you too kiddo." Karin poked her head through the door of the living room. She was wearing a white undershirt and a black shorts. A half eaten pretzel hung from her mouth.

"Hey, how're ya doing, Shiro-nii?"

"Yo, Karin! Aren't you cold in that? It ain't summer no more, remember?"

"Whatever, goat-face pays the heating, I don't care. Not like I'm going out today anyhow." She went back into the room.

"What's up with her...?"

"She's been like this for three days now, Nii-chan. Karin-chan's boyfirend left her."

"DID NOT!" They heard coming from the room. "AND HE WASN'T MY BOYFIREND!" Shiro seemed puzzled for a second.

'_**Boyfriend... but, she's like, twelve!'**_

'_**Eleven'**_ Zangetsu mentally corrected him.

'**That's worse, right?'**

"**..."**

His face grew more serious (but not by much). "Who am I killing?"

"You don't mean that literally, nii-chan... His name is Heita... or was it Ryohei... or Kei... or..."

"Hey Yuzu! Don't just go and name all my friends, damnit!" Karin yelled out form the room.

Shiro grabbed Yuzu by the shoulders. "So which one of them is it?"

"I... I'm not sure..."

"That's it. I'm killing all of them." More for himself than for the girls, he then added: "But where will I hide more bodies...?" The moment he opened the door to leave outside, he heard Karin run out of the room and jumping on him to stop him from leaving. As they both hit to the ground outside – Shiro face-first, and Karin right on top of him – the white haired teen began laughing like crazy.

"Damnit, Shiro-baka! Why are you listening to Yuzu's wild stories, when she always exaggerates anyway! ?"

"T'is fun to?"

The girl smiled, realizing her brother was teasing her. "You're insufferable when you get a sense of humor, Shiro-baka."

"I try my best. Being crazy helps a lot." The girl's smile broadened.

"You're the craziest out there. Until goat-face comes home. Then you're just small fish again." She got off him and walked to the still open door of the house, where Yuzu stood with that half worried, half amused smile on her face. "Let's get inside. It ain't summer no more, Shiro-nii. I'm cold."

Shiro smirked and muttered something profane, then got up and went inside after her. From behind the closed door, their voices could still be heard.

"So... why were you feeling down anyways?" asked the teen.

"My coach said my kick got weaker..."

The door of the house opened.

"Shiro-baka!"

And the cycle of teasing began again.

O-O-O

End of chapter 11

O-O-O

A/N: Haha... I can't remember when was the last time I had this much fun writing a chapter. And no fight scenes anywhere! (I really exhausted my imagination with them over the last several chapters.) So, how did you like Shiro's family time? It was something I wanted to do from the beginning, but until now managed to squeeze only a single short scene where he was with his sisters until now. Originally meant to give Kensei a more physical appearance in this chapter, but instead he's only referenced by Hiyori. Either way, you now know what happened to him. I believe you already guessed who bailed Grimmjow out of his tight spot. When I wrote Shiro's line: "Committing image to memory." I laughed so hard I had to stop writing (kept hitting the wrong keys all the time). Guess it's only appropriate to apologize the chapter is slightly shorter than what I normally write. Maybe an '_extra'_ would help?

O-O-O

Extra

O-O-O

His mind was splitting. He opened his eyes, but the whole world looked like the ink stains the shrinks used. Through dry lips, Ichigo whispered his question.

"Where am I?"

"**You are within your world, Ichigo?"** He knew that voice. **"Where else would you be?"**

"Zangetsu? Where are you?"

"**Right here Ichigo."** The teen realized that he was lying down. His head was lifted off the ground.

"Wha..." He looked up, his vision slightly clearing. Zangetsu's worry-filled face loomed above his. "Wait a minute..." Zangetsu was sitting on the ground, holding Icigo's head in his lap. With his arms, he held the teen's head firmly by the temples. "What the hell do you think you're doing old man? !" He started to struggle to get back on his feet, but Zangetsu held him by the head firmly in hands.

"**Rest, Ichigo. Your mind is wounded."**

"Wha..."

"**When the subjugated form is torn from control, grievous damage is inflicted onto the mind of that person."** Zangetsu sighed. With corners of his eyes, Ichigo could he the old man's palms glowing from the same energy he always associated with the Getsuga Tenshō. **"I expected him to be more gentle. I misjudged him."**

"Who, the Hollow?"

"**Yes. Especially considering how he knew firsthand what the effects would be. After all, he experienced these same devastating injuries to his mind every time you tore off his mask from your face." **

"I didn't know that hurt him." His voice sounded as if he was apologizing.

"**Would you have acted otherwise had you known?"**

"Otherwise?" Ichigo spoke slowly. "I don't know. Maybe. Not if there was no other way." Ichigo tried to get up, but blinding pain flooded his mind, and he collapsed back onto Zangetsu's lap.

"**Rest, Ichigo." **Delirious, Ichigo groaned and mumbled.

"Let me sleep in today dad, it's Saturday..." The glow on the old man's palms intensified.

"**Rest, and know no fear, Ichigo. You shall not lose yourself on this day, or any day other."** His harsh gaze softened as he watched his young wielder fall asleep. **"For this world shall protect you."**

O-O-O

End of extra

_Hope you had fun kids! That's it from me this time! For the end I should add that I don't expect this story to last for more than 5-6 more chapters. After that I will move on and publish the "Book two - Dark Destiny" (title may vary slightly), the rough drafts of which are already completed (not sure I used the right word there. Meant to say I have the entire plot worked out more or less in detail and now only have to get to writing)._

_Reviews are nice... (and I'm an addict.) See you all next time!_

_~KuroiTori-sama_


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